Storm of Fire
by Erika Strider
Summary: PKMN/KH crossover. Post KH2. Ash's Cyndaquil is thrown into the biggest adventure of his life when the Heartless attack his world, and now he must team up with Sora, Kairi and Riku to rescue his friends... but could they be too late? Full summary inside.
1. Prologue

It's Erika Strider here with a new story! Pokemon and Kingdom Hearts, anyone? This is an idea I've been toying around with for a while, and I couldn't help but write it. It's of lesser quality than it normally is for my chapters, but it's only a prologue.

I should NOT be writing this right now, but it was an idea fresh in my mind and it is currently the easiest thing I've written for a while. But anyway! Enjoy, and I assure you that future chapters will be better than this.

**Summary**: Cyndaquil has been feeling a bit down ever since Ash decided to go off to Sinnoh with only Pikachu. It made him feel even worse when Aipom went running off and was allowed to stay. This bad mood isn't doing him any good, and now the young fire mouse just wants to have an adventure... but he may be asking for more than what he can handle when strange creatures known as "Heartless" appear in his world. Soon finding himself on a strange tropical island known as "Destiny Islands", he gains new friends in the form of Sora, Kairi, and Riku in an effort to get back home to his pokémon pals.

Now Cyndaquil must help Sora and his friends fight pokémon corrupted by darkness to save his own friends. Could it be too late...? And who do those sparkling, bright blue eyes that seem to be following the fire mouse across the worlds belong to?

Note: This story's name is based off of Cyndaquil's Japanese name, Hinoarashi, which could be translated into "storm of fire" using certain Kanji.

"Speech."

_'Thoughts.'_

**"Translated pokémon speech."**

* * *

**Storm of Fire**

**Prologue**

* * *

It was a pleasant day in Pallet Town, for humans and pokémon alike. While the humans went around doing errands, shopping at the local market, or just relaxed in their homes, the pokémon at Professor Oak's lab were enjoying their day too.

One little fire mouse in particular was sprawled out on the grass under the shade of a large, full tree. The royal blue-and-cream colored pokémon yawned. "Cyndaaaa..."

The sounds of footsteps crushing through the grass caused Cyndaquil to look up with his eyes, squinted so tightly it looked like he had them closed. **"Oh, Totodile," **he said, noticing his excited blue friend. **"What's going on?"**

The big jaw pokémon jumped in the air as he replied. **"It's lunch time, Cyndaquil! Come on, come on!"** Before Cyndaquil could do anything, Totodile grabbed him by the paw and began dragging him towards the large white laboratory at the top of the nearby hill.

"**Waaah! Totodile, slow down…!"** Cyndaquil could barely keep up with his hyper friend. They passed various pokémon owned by other trainers, along with the 30 tauros that Ash had caught several years ago when they traveled by the ranch.

Eventually, they reached the huge laboratory positioned atop the nearby hill. Several dishes were placed outside, where the pokémon of the ranch were chowing down.

Cyndaquil and Totodile looked around for a few moments before spotting a familiar face. **"Food! Hey, Bulbasaur!"** Totodile exclaimed, running over to their old friend.

The green toad-like creature with a bulb on his back looked up from his dish. **"Hello,"** he greeted, moving over to let Totodile and Cyndaquil share. **"How've you two been doing?"**

"**Great!"** Totodile replied through a mouthful of food.

"**I've been… alright,"** Cyndaquil replied with a touch of heaviness in his voice.

Bulbasaur shot him a sympathetic look. **"Still upset about not being able to travel with Ash again?"**

Cyndaquil picked up a piece of food and popped it into his mouth. **"I don't see why I can't go too. It's been a while since I've had an adventure…" **Ash had gone off to another region—Sinnoh, was it?—and decided to only take Pikachu with him. Aipom, however, had snuck away from the lab and chased after him, and then she was allowed to go too.

Not fair!

"**You know what Pikachu said, Ash wants a challenge. He wants a fresh start with new pokémon,"** Bulbasaur said, patting Cyndaquil on the back with a long, dark green vine.

The fire mouse plopped onto the ground and shoved a few more pieces of food into his mouth. **"I just miss traveling around… it's boring here sometimes."**

"**Hey!"** Totodile exclaimed, crossing his arms with his mouth stuffed full. **"What about me? We hang out!"**

"**I know, and it's nice of you, but don't you wish you could get into those really tough battles like before?"** Cyndaquil asked. **"Sometimes it feels like he's forgotten about us… I know he hasn't; he calls in all the time, but…"** He sighed and shook his head.

"**Meh… I guess you're right…"**

Bulbasaur shook himself off and straightened up. **"It'll get better, don't worry!"** He reassured. **"Now, if you two would excuse me, I need to go make sure those pokémon down at the lake don't make any trouble! Bye!"**

"**Bye!"**

Totodile swallowed his food before giving Cyndaquil a toothy grin. **"Listen to Bulbasaur, he's one of the senior pokémon. He knows what he's talking about!"**

The fire mouth sighed and looked down at the ground. **"I suppose…"**

* * *

Cyndaquil spent the rest of the day snoozing in his favorite spot under the tree. As the sun set and day turned to night, the once gentle breeze became harsher, sharper, and colder.

"Quil…" The fire mouse rolled over onto his back, only to suddenly jerk awake when a clap of thunder echoed throughout the air. **"Ah! What was that?!"**

Terrified screams rose from somewhere in the nearby forest. They were screams from pokémon.

"**Oh no! Something's wrong!"** Cyndaquil scrambled down towards the forest as quickly as he could. More screams reverberated, this time accompanied with the sounds of battle. _'What's going on?! Is a fight breaking out between the water and grass pokémon again?! But Bulbasaur should be taking care of it!'_

A blast of water flew from a nearby bush, catching Cyndaquil off guard and nearly slamming into him. Panting as he slid to a stop, he remarked, **"That was close…"**

A rustling came from the bushes.

"**Who's there?"**

The rustling stopped, and Cyndaquil took a cautious step back. Suddenly, dark creatures jumped from the shadows; three of them, all with huge yellow eyes that glowed an eerie light.

"**What are those things?!"** The fire mouse squeaked as they landed in front of him, twitching sporadically and slowly edging closer. They looked sort of like some dark-type or bug-type because of their color and insect appearance, but they weren't a pokémon he'd ever seen before.

The one in the middle leaped and aimed a swipe with its sharp, three-fingered claws. Cyndaquil barely dodged as he fell backwards, and the flame on his back ignited from his surprised. **"Gah, flamethrower!"** He opened his mouth and a wisp of flames flew out. "Huh?!" The creature's claws slammed into Cyndaquil's face, knocking him backwards.

The fire mouse winced, feeling the cuts he must have gotten on his face. **"Let's try that again, flamethrower!" **This time, a blast of fire shot from his open mouth and slammed into the strange creature in front of him.

The dark creature was thrown backwards from the blaze until it literally exploded into dark wisps.

"**What?!"** Cyndaquil was shocked. No pokémon exploded like _that_! What were these things?! Eyes narrowing, he turned his attention to the other creatures. **"Swift!" **Brightly colored stars flew from his mouth and slammed into the eerie monsters.

They were knocked to the floor, and Cyndaquil took this opportunity to move deeper into the forest, following the screams, shouts, and sounds of attacks.

* * *

Giant red creatures that resembled dragon-types were chasing down Swellow and Noctowl while Sceptile helped get the younger pokémon out of harms way from these mysterious attackers.

The big blue beetle Heracross jabbed his horn into a creature that looked like it was wearing human armor with a strange emblem on its chest. **"Leave us alone!" **He exclaimed.

A crash of thunder, followed by a flash of lightning broke through the night.

"**What's going on?!"** Cyndaquil exclaimed, looking around at the battle. Though the pokémon were definitely holding their own, there were just too many of these strange, yellow-eyes creatures.

"**Right after the storm pulled in, these things began coming out of the ground and shadows!"** Bulbasaur shouted, jumping back to meet the fire mouse as he slammed a vine whip into the insect-like creatures.

"**But today was perfect…!"** Cyndaquil cried. **"No one sensed a storm coming in!"** He blasted a stream of fire at the humanoid creature that was about to jump at a poliwhirl.

"**I know!"** Bulbasaur said, whipping a few other monsters. **"But one came anyway, and these things came with it! They just keep coming! Cyndaquil, go to the lab and get help; maybe the professor could help!"**

"**But what about things here?"**

"**We'll take care of it!"** Bulbasaur turned to look around the lake-side clearing. **"Hurry, before anyone gets hurt!"**

The fire mouse fell to all fours and began sprinting, leaving a white streak behind him as he quick attacked all the way towards the white laboratory, ignoring the monsters that popped up around him.

The doors were shut and the lights inside were dark. Cyndaquil backed up while tensing the muscles in his hind legs, running forward and slamming the doors open. **"Professor!"**

It was eerily quiet and dark inside. He couldn't tell if anyone was in the lab or not, and it wasn't a good sign. Cyndaquil scrambled through the different rooms, shouting for help. "Quil! Quil! Cynda, cynda!"

Every room was empty, and now there was only one left to check. He pushed his way into the poké ball storage room and took a deep breath. There weren't any fresh human scents in the room; it was empty too. **"Huh…"** He walked around, looking up at the many poké balls stacked around.

It was a strange but interesting place, this room; almost hypnotizing. There were hundreds of poké balls, but somehow, a pokémon just knew which one was theirs. Cyndaquil easily spotted his, the third from the left on the fourth shelf under Ash's section.

He climbed up the shelves, accidentally knocking over a few empty poké balls as he reached the fourth shelf. He carefully made his way towards his ball and picked it up.

He remembered when he'd stay in it. Poké balls weren't as comfortable as being out in nature, but the times he stayed in a poké ball were the times he traveled around Johto, helping his trainer collect badges while testing his own limits in those difficult journeys. It was during that journey that he grew stronger; strong enough to start his flame at a moment's notice.

"… **Oh…"** He shook his head and turned back to urgent matters. **"What do I do? There's no one in the lab, and I don't know where the professor is…!"**

_CRASH!_

A giant gust of wind slammed into the walls of the building, so strong it shattered the window that overlooked the ranch. Shelves were pushed over and poke balls went flying.

Cyndaquil squealed, gripping his poke ball tightly as he was thrown around the room. Hitting the wall and cutting his side on a shard of glass, the fire mouse gave a yelp of pain. **"Oww…! Urf… What just happened…?"**

The answer came in the form of an ominous creaking from above. Cyndaquil slowly looked up as the ceiling began to crack. A shout of terror rose from his throat as the roof was literally _ripped off_ to reveal the stormy night sky.

A giant, swirling orb of red energy floated high in the air, but that was the _second_ thing that Cyndaquil noticed. The _first_ thing he noticed was that giant humanoid creature with little demon wings and a gaping heart-shaped hole in its chest.

"QUIIII!" The terrified squeal came from the little fire-type pokémon.

The giant creature moved slowly, but there was no way Cyndaquil would be able to avoid its attack as it raised a huge fist into the air to smash him. He was stuck in the corner of the room, looking around frantically for a way to escape. Poké balls and fallen shelves were everywhere, and broken glass was scattered across the floor. There was no escape.

"Get into the ball!" A young, urgent voice seemed to resonate from all directions.

"**What?!"** Cyndaquil looked up, trying to pinpoint the source of the voice. **"Why? Who's there?!"**

"There isn't much time, this place is going to be ripped apart! Get into your poké ball, and I'll get you to safety! Trust me!"

Cyndaquil gritted his teeth, unsure, but as the giant creature above him hurled his fist straight at him he found no other option. He slammed his paw onto the ball's button and was pulled inside with a beam of red light.

Faces flashed in his mind; Totodile, Bayleef, Bulbasaur… and then the other friends he had that were probably fighting for their lives.

'_Guys… I'm sorry!'_

* * *

So, how do you like it? I know Sora, Kairi, and Riku didn't appear, but this is a prologue. They'll appear next chapter.

Review.


	2. Chapter 1

Erika here bringing the first REAL chapter. The point of view for this story is going to be third-person limited, and character POVs switch occasionally. It's simple to know who the main character of each chapter segment is though. Just a head's up.

A majority of this chapter has Kairi as the main character, but in this story it'll switch between Sora, Kairi, Riku and Cyndaquil often, occasionally with other characters depending on the situation.

"Speech."

_'Thoughts.'_

**"Translated pokémon speech."**

* * *

**Storm of Fire**

**Chapter 1**

* * *

Sun, sea, and the gentle ocean breeze. Kairi loved it, and found herself relaxing on the beach everyday since she came back to the islands.

That battle between Sora, Riku and the late leader of Organization XIII, Xemnas, had been two weeks ago, but it still felt like it had been just yesterday. Being kidnapped twice and thrown into a prison for a little more than a week seemed to do this to people.

Kairi stretched out, sitting up from her lying position on the sand and looking out at the ocean with her bright blue eyes. The sun was beginning to set. She should head home already.

"Kairi!"

The auburn-haired girl turned her head to see a spiky-haired brunet running her way from the other side of the beach. She laughed and jumped to her feet. "Sora!" She waved. While Kairi had been relaxing on the beach, Sora was catching up with Selphie, Tidus and Wakka. They had felt so guilty about forgetting him, but Sora easily forgave them. He seemed to know the reason why, and on the inside, Kairi did as well.

'_Naminé.'_ Her blonde Nobody had merged back into her rightful place. Though Kairi didn't hear voices in her head, she knew that it was impossible to feel like she was alone anymore. It was almost like a person standing next to you, silent and invisible as they cheered you on.

Kairi didn't have anything against Naminé for what she had done; Sora and Riku didn't either. The three of them understood that she had no choice under the hands of Marluxia, whom Sora remembered after Roxas and Naminé were merged with their respective others.

"Come on, Kairi," Sora said, stopping next to his friend and jogging in place. "Riku's invited us over to his house for dinner."

"What about the others?" Kairi asked, looking around the island. Not another soul was in sight, but she guessed that Selphie, Tidus and Wakka were hanging out on the other side of the island.

"They said they were going to camp out, actually," Sora replied, surprising Kairi. He grinned at the shocked look on the Princess of Heart's face. "Yeah, I know, Selphie camping? I thought I stepped into a parallel dimension or something!"

Kairi laughed. "Anyway, shall we go?"

"Yes we shall!"

The two blue-eyes teens ran over to the wooden docks. Three boats were positioned there, tied to the dock. Two of them belonged to Tidus and Wakka, the other was Sora's. It was easier to share boats during trips instead of only taking their own; almost like carpooling.

Kairi stepped into the boat, holding her hands out to balance herself before sitting down. She grabbed the rows as Sora hopped in, and they made their way back to the mainland.

* * *

The town of Destiny Islands was a quiet but populous town. The best thing, Kairi had thought ever since she'd visited other worlds, was the beach side housing. As long as there weren't any tidal waves, everything was good.

"Man… Riku, your mom's an awesome cook," Sora commented, sprawled out on the soft carpet of Riku's living room. "… Can I move in?"

The silver-haired teen rolled his eyes and laughed. He was a lot more cheerful than when he first came back. At first, he had been a bit nervous about what the others would think of him, but in reality, they only knew the bare minimum. Riku's parents were just thankful that their son had returned, and since then his mother had made all these delicious meals.

'_And cake,'_ Kairi thought as she scooped a forkful of chocolate cake into her mouth. She was looking out the window. It was about nine, and the streetlights, house lights and stars illuminated the road outside. Glancing to Sora and Riku, both of whom were joking around about Sora moving in, her mind wandered. _'It's really nice to have those two back. It was really… lonely without them.'_

Looking up at the sky, Kairi looked at the stars. _'So every star is a world… There're so many worlds out there…'_ A light glinted in the darkness with the stars, and her blue eyes narrowed. _'What was…?'_

"But if I _did_ move in, where would I stay?"

"I'm sure we have room in the attic. Of course, I'm taking the bathroom every morning from 8 to 9. It takes work to look this good."

Sora snorted. "_Look good_? Hah! You sound like a girl! No offense, Kairi… … Kairi?"

The auburn-haired girl spun around. "Guys, it's a meteor shower!"

"What?" Sora sat up and stared out the window. "… Whoa…! You're right, Kairi!"

Hundreds of bright lights were shooting across the night sky. It was absolutely stunning.

"Come on, we can go on the roof and check it out." Riku waved a hand and led his friends out of the living room and up the stairs.

Climbing out of a window in the second floor hall, they winded up on the roof of the porch outside. From there, the view was even more amazing.

"Wow…" Kairi breathed, the flying lights reflecting in her wide, excited eyes.

"It's been a while since there's been a meteor shower here," Riku said.

Sora nodded and placed his hands behind his head as he leaned back. "Actually… I think the last time we had one was when you came here, Kairi, back when we were all kids."

'_That's right…!'_ Kairi blinked. _'That was when I came falling from the sky…'_ Out of the corner of her eyes, she noticed Riku staring at her, a strange look in his aquamarine eyes. She furrowed her eyebrows and tried to turn her attention back at the lights above. _'… Is he… worried about something?'_

* * *

In the mornings, during the day and sometimes at night, Kairi loved to walk across the beach of the play island, searching for any shells that may have washed up during the night. The auburn-haired girl kneeled down, careful not to let herself get wet from the waves that gently brushed up against the shore. There was a scallop, but she didn't really want one of those to add to her collection of shells; she already had so many of those.

Looking around, she spotted something else lying on the sand. It shined in the late afternoon sun, red in color. She scrambled over to the strange object and examined it.

It was a small red and white ball. Kairi hesitantly picked it up and stared. It was only the size of a ping-pong ball, and very light. "I wonder what this is…" Shrugging, she pocketed it and continued her way down the beach.

After about an hour, she went around in a circle and combed the entire beach. "Huh. Not many new things today…" Kairi placed her hands on her hips and looked around. "Oh well… It was nice out, at least." The sky was just beginning to tinge red with the setting sun. Sometimes, it was hard to believe that such a bright sky could turn black and scattered with stars at night.

Something tapped against Kairi's shoe, pulling her attention downwards. "What…?" A small glass bottle, sealed water-tight with a cork was sitting on the sand at her feet, having been pushed to shoe by the tide. She bent over and picked it up, realizing that there was a rolled up letter inside. "Huh…?"

Shaking it a few times and looking at the rolled up letter carefully, her eyes widened.

And then she high-tailed it to the paopu tree island where Sora and Riku were hanging out.

* * *

"Sora! Riku!"

The two boys, who had been looking out at the sea and the setting sun moments before, turned around in surprise. "What's up?" Sora asked, watching as his auburn-haired friend jogged over to them.

Kairi came to a stop and took a moment to catch her breath. Holding out the bottle in her hands, she managed to gasp, "Look."

Sora and Riku's eyes widened in surprise. Inside that glass bottle was a letter, and on that letter was a familiar black symbol resembling a certain mouse's head. "From the King?" Sora took the bottle from Kairi, uncorked it and shook the letter out. He silently unrolled it and stared at the words as his two friends read over his shoulder.

"…" It took no longer than a minute for them to completely read it.

"Strange creatures?" Sora wondered aloud.

"The meteor shower…?" Riku murmured, eyes trailing across the paper as he re-read the note.

_Dear Sora, Riku and Kairi,_

_Last night, a meteor shower was seen across the worlds. It has come to my attention that this meteor shower may have scattered items and beings belonging to a destroyed world around the worlds. Strange creatures neither Heartless nor Nobody have been appearing and no one knows what they are. Some are docile, and others are quite aggressive._

_If you see anything of the sort around your world, just throw this bottle back into the ocean with a note and I'll send Donald and Goofy there to check things out. We don't know what these creatures want, but I have a feeling that things are about to get more complicated._

_Your friend,_

_Mickey_

"… Have you guys seen anything weird today?" Sora asked, turning to look at Riku and Kairi.

Kairi shook her head. "Nope, nothing out of the ordinary."

Riku was quiet for a few moments. "… No… but what I haven't seen is exactly what's a bit weird."

Sora blinked. "Huh? What do you mean?"

The silver-haired teen looked up at the sky, and then around the island. "It's quiet. The seagulls are gone."

It was then that Sora and Kairi noticed the strange, calm quiet. The only sounds were the ocean waves and the rustling of the leaves. Not once that day had they heard the caw of a gull. They didn't see one either, and normally they flew around when kids were at the beach to pick up any dropped food.

"You're right," Kairi muttered. "Do you think it's because of the strange creatures? Maybe they sense something's wrong—different."

"Maybe," Riku said. "But I think we should get back home now. It's getting late, and staying out in the dark might not be such a good idea."

The trio headed back to the docks and rowed back to the mainland as fast as they could. It amazingly only took ten minutes this time.

"Remember, call if anything happens," Sora said, tying his boat to the mainland dock.

"Of course," Kairi replied, nodding her head. "Anyway, I gotta run. I'll see you two tomorrow!" After saying goodbye to her friends, she ran up the dirt path that led farther into town.

By the time she got to her house, the sun was already halfway below the horizon. The street lamps were slowly turning on, and Kairi gave a deep sigh of relief when she stepped inside her house. "I'm home!" Being sent here alone and not knowing who her parents were, she lived with a caretaker assigned to her by the mayor.

After being met with silence, a note taped to the wall caught her attention. "Dear Kairi, I'm staying at work late tonight because of a pile of unsigned papers. Dinner's in the fridge. Love, Mina."

Shrugging to herself, Kairi headed up the nearby stairs, flipping on the light switch in the process. "Today was exhausting," the auburn-haired girl said to herself as she took a seat on her bed. Her room was clean, but in a way it was plain. There weren't too many eye-catching things besides the plush toys that were squeezed onto a single shelf by a dresser.

Kairi gave a heavy sigh. "Creatures neither Heartless nor Nobody," she mumbled. "Haven't we had enough trouble already? Don't tell me Sora has to go and save the worlds again…" The spiky-haired Keyblade wielder deserved a break too, right? _'And I don't want to be left behind this time,'_ she thought. _'I didn't do too much at all both times he's had to go out and save us. I was kidnapped last time, and then the first time…'_ She shivered. That empty feeling of losing a heart…

Rolling over to lie down on her stomach, she pushed herself up when something poked her in the side. "Huh?" She ran a hand over the sheets, and when she found no source of the strange poking she reached into her pocket. "… Oh!" Kairi pulled out the small red and white ball she had found on the beach earlier. "I forgot about this!"

Carefully, the auburn-haired girl examined the little ball again. Was it supposed to be a designer ping-pong ball or something? "Huh… oh, wait…!" It was only then that Kairi noticed a small button at the center of the ball. Hesitantly, she pushed it and nearly dropped it when it grew to the size of a softball in less than a second. "Whoa!" It was still surprisingly light-weight. After staring at it for a few minutes, Kairi decided to press the button again out of curiosity.

With a strange pop the ball opened up, and in a white light, something materialized on her bed in front of her.

"…"

Kairi was speechless. What the hell was that thing?

It looked like some spike-less hedgehog-shrew thing. It had a royal blue and light cream coat with a long snout. Its eyes were squinted tightly, and there were red patches on its back. "Cyn…?" It looked around frantically, almost panicking. "Cyn?!" It paused, noticing Kairi, who had backed far away onto the other side of the room.

"W-what is that thing?!" Kairi exclaimed. The phone was out in the hall, and Sora said to call if anything happened. _'I'm pretty _damn_ sure this counts as something happening!'_

"Cynda?" The strange long-snouted creature took a step forward, only to fall off of the bed and hit the floor with a thud. "… quil…"

Kairi bit her lip, keeping an eye on the creature as she edged towards the door. She stopped, however, when she noticed blood dripping from a gash on the creature's side. "… Oh… You're hurt…"

The creature nodded his head weakly. "Quil…"

The auburn-haired girl blinked in surprise. "You… you understand me?"

"Cyn." The creature nodding its large head again.

Uncertainly, Kairi crawled forward. She reached over and gingerly picked up the animal in her hands. It was surprisingly warm to the touch.

"Cynda?" The creature asked, tilting its head to the side.

"If Mina comes in and finds blood stains on the carpet, I have no idea what I would say," Kairi said more to herself. The phone call could wait; this thing was hurt. "Anyway, come on, let's get you cleaned up." She carried the animal out into the hall and into the bathroom.

The creature was placed onto the counter, and Kairi began digging around the cabinet. "Where are the bandages? Oh, here they are!" She pulled out a box of band-aids. "Now, hold still." She pulled out a handful of the bandages and began sticking them onto the creature's wounds.

"Cynda…"

"Sorry, we don't have any gauze," Kairi commented as she dropped all the rubbish into the trash can. "So… do you have a name? I'm Kairi."

The creature nodded its head. "Cyndaquil!"

"Cyndaquil?" Kairi repeated, and she got another nod in response. "That's an… interesting name."

"Quil!"

"Hmm… Are you a boy or a girl?" The Princess of Heart questioned.

"Cyn."

Kairi tilted her head to the side. "I don't understand you…" She admitted, scratching the back of her head. And then she had an idea. "Oh! Okay, right hand means girl, left hand means boy!" She held her hands out in front Cyndaquil.

"Cyn!" Cyndaquil placed a toe-less paw on her left hand.

"Okay! So you're a boy!" Kairi chirped. She was beginning to wonder why she had been so terrified when this shrew-like animal came out of that ball. He didn't seem bad or dangerous, and he was adorable to boot!

"Kairi! I'm home!" An older female voice came from downstairs.

"Oh, that's Mina! What am I going to do about you, Cyndaquil?" Kairi put a hand to her mouth as she thought. "I know! Come on, let's go down. We can eat dinner in a little bit."

"Cynda…" As Kairi picked up the adorable animal, Cyndaquil seemed to have his mind elsewhere.

* * *

A strange creature craned its neck to sniff at the star shaped fruits hanging on the bent tropical tree. A trill rose from its throat as it bit down into one of the paopu fruits, flapping its large, green wings happily. So tasty!

The bananas that grew under the dinosaur-like creature's chin began dropping off, landing in the ocean water below with loud splashes. These strange fruits were more to the tropius's liking than bananas.

In the darkness of the starry, moon-less night, something stirred behind the fruit pokémon. It turned its head, straining its eyes to see through the darkness. "… Tro?"

Suddenly, dark creatures with eerie glowing eyes rose from the shadows in the ground, antennas twitching as they took jerky steps forward.

Tropius's eyes widened as the shadow creatures leapt. "Trop!" Its cries echoed like a banshee's scream throughout the deserted play island.

* * *

"Cynda!" Cyndaquil munched hungrily on a piece of bread from his position on the dining table. He was as pleased as he could be, all things considered. _'But what about the others? They're probably not eating. And what about their injuries? I hope they're alright and are somewhere safe…'_

"What's wrong, Cyndaquil?" Kairi asked, looking up from her plate of spaghetti.

"Well Kairi, you said you found Cyndaquil," Mina replied. The brown-haired woman's green eyes sparkled behind the pair of glasses perched on the bridge of her nose. "He's probably just thinking about his family. I'm sure he wasn't always alone when you found him."

"Right, I found him…" Kairi said, popping a meatball into her mouth and chewing. "… Cyndaquil, were you separated from your family?"

The fire mouse was surprised. These people were good at guessing, not like Ash was at all. "Cynda…" He nodded his head.

Kairi smiled before saying, "You know, when I was really young I was separated from my family too. I don't remember them… but life here isn't bad at all. It's great! I'm sure your family is fine, and if you want help to find them, I'd be glad to help out."

Cyndaquil nodded his head slowly. "Cynda…" **"Thanks, Kairi…"**

A loud ringing came from the other room. Kairi stood up and wiped her mouth with a napkin. "Oh, I'll get it!" She ran out before anyone could do anything.

Cyndaquil finished off his piece of bread and looked out the window. _'I hope you guys are alright…'_ He thought. _'I'm sorry for leaving, but I didn't have any other choice…'_ It was that voice that told him that he was going to wind up somewhere safe. He did, so he hoped that whoever the voice belonged to helped out his friends as well.

'_Who was that, anyway?'_ Cyndaquil wondered. _'I didn't see anyone around…' _Suddenly, something caught his attention outside.

Bright, blue eyes peered through the window, and in a split second they were gone.

"Cyn…!" Cyndaquil's jaw dropped. **"What was that…?" **And then in the distance, strange muffled sounds caught his attention. _'That doesn't sound so good…'_

"Cyndaquil?" Mina asked. "Is something wrong?" She probably couldn't hear the noise; it was too quiet.

What she _could_ hear, however, was the shocked exclamation that came from the other room.

Kairi shoved her head into the dining room, alarm written all over her face. "Sora's in trouble! I gotta help him!" She ran out before Mina could stop her.

"Kairi, wait!"

Cyndaquil leaped off of the table and dashed after the auburn-haired girl, ignoring Mina's shouts to stop as he headed out the open front door. Someone was in trouble and Kairi was going to go and help? What if it was an aggressive and powerful pokémon… or one of those creatures with glowing yellow eyes?

Shaking his head, Cyndaquil kept his mind away from the stings that emanated from the wound on his side and followed Kairi down the sidewalk illuminated by streetlights.

* * *

"Get away!" Sora exclaimed, swinging the Kingdom Key at the strange creature standing before him.

It jumped out of the way and sent a flurry of razor-sharp leaves at the spiky-haired Keyblade wielder.

Sora deflected the leaves with a reflect spell and readied his Keyblade. This thing wasn't any Heartless he'd ever seen, but it was definitely a Heartless. It was black and purple, and its eyes glowed an eerie yellow. Paopu fruits were growing from its neck, but they were dyed blood red.

It was a natural-born Heartless, not an emblem one. It didn't have that red thorn-heart crest on its body. Sora wondered what this creature was before it had been swallowed by the darkness.

This thing had some nerve though; he had been halfway through dinner when it smashed open the front door in an effort to get inside. Now Sora was battling it out in the yard with only the lights from the house, streets and stars shining down on them.

The Heartless sent several slices of condensed air at Sora, who blocked with his Keyblade. "Whatever this thing was before, it was powerful! Thunder!"

A bolt of lightning slammed down from the sky, hitting the Heartless straight on.

The creature shook its head, brushing off the attack and flapping its wings. Rising into the air, it sent a huge gust of wind at the spiky-haired boy below.

Sora struggled to keep his footing through the gust. "Gah!" Several leaves were sent flying his way, cutting through is skin and clothes and knocking him off balance. "Ouch… that one hurt…!"

"Sora, look out!"

Sora looked up to see a slice of wind flying straight towards him. "GAH!"

"Dark shield!" In a flash, the older silver-haired teen appeared in front of the Keyblade master, a shield deflecting the attack.

"Thanks, Riku," Sora said, pushing himself off of the ground.

Riku nodded. "Sorry I couldn't get here faster, I ran as fast as I could. That's a Heartless, right?"

"A pretty powerful one."

"What is it doing here?"

"How should I know? It broke down our door when I was eating!"

"What about your parents?" Riku asked.

"They're inside. They aren't hurt," Sora added.

Riku nodded and smirked. "Good. Now let's take this thing down!"

* * *

So how's it going? I hope it's good, and please excuse any possible spelling/grammar typos.

Anyway, yes, there is a language barrier between pokémon and humans in this universe, as it is on the pokémon world. Don't worry though, I have an idea in mind to help things move along more smoothly.

Review!


	3. Chapter 2

Hey guys, finally got this up! Uh... it was supposed to be longer, but I couldn't think of anything else, so... Yeah.

I kind of suck at writing battle scenes. Oh well.

"Speech."

_'Thoughts.'_

**"Translated pokémon speech."**

* * *

**Storm of Fire**

**Chapter 2**

* * *

"Dark aura!"

"Fire!"

The large, long-necked Heartless was blasted by the two attacks, stumbling backwards. The fire burned on it for several moments before dying down, and it gave an angry, pained hiss.

"It looks like it's weak to fire," Riku said, commented, jumping back and brandishing Way to Dawn.

"Got it," Sora replied, aiming his Keyblade at the Heartless.

The Heartless took off into the air, body suddenly glowing white.

"What is it doing?" Riku asked, cautiously holding his Keyblade above his head.

"It's… it's healing itself," Sora muttered, eyes narrowing as he saw the wounds from the fire disappear. "We gotta take this thing down fast!"

"Right on it!" Riku leaped up into the air and swung his blade. It smashed into the head of the Heartless, but it kept airborne and sent a flurry of leaves at the silver-haired boy. "Dark shield!" He hovered in the air for a few moments, the leaves bouncing off of the magic shield in front of him.

The Heartless sent a slash of air at Sora's feet, kicking up dirt and knocking him off balance.

"Arg!" Sora fell to the ground and rubbed his eyes.

Riku landed on the grass next to his spiky-haired friend. "You alright?"

"Yeah, I just have some dirt in… my…" Sora trailed off, staring up at the Heartless. "… Uh… What's that thing doing?"

Riku blinked, turning to look at the Heartless flying above them. Its head was lifted into the air, light slowly collecting as a ball in his mouth. "… Not… good."

"Take it out, quick!" Sora exclaimed, spinning his Keyblade and throwing it at the Heartless.

It was slammed in the chest and knocked backwards, but it didn't stop charging its attack.

'_Shit,'_ Riku thought. "It's not giving up."

A sudden shout caught their attention. "Guys, look out!"

The Heartless gave a loud cry, almost like a trill of a bird, before shooting a blast of bright light at the fighting duo.

"Reflect!" Sora exclaimed as the Keyblade flashed to his hand. A honeycomb-like shield appeared around him and Riku. The blast ripped apart the ground around them, and the spiky-haired teen could feel the shield weakening, threatening to break. "Can't… hold it…!"

"QUIL!"

Something small smashed into the Heartless's side, its attack ripping across the ground and up into the air before it could tear apart any houses.

Sora gasped, the shield disappearing. "… Man… that was strong…!" He struggled to catch his breath before standing up.

"Guys!" Sora and Riku turned and saw their auburn-haired friend running over to them.

"Kairi!"

Kairi nodded. "Are you guys alright?"

"Yeah," Riku replied. "A few cuts here and there, nothing much… but what…?" There was a loud, high-pitched cry and he turned his attention to the battle in front of them. "… What… is that thing?"

The little creature with a long snout and no ears growled, seemingly glaring at the Heartless with its squinted eyes.

Kairi almost screamed when she saw the Heartless almost smash her new friend with its large body. "Cyndaquil! Get out of there!"

But Cyndaquil didn't listen. He jumped back and tackled the Heartless again… and again… until it was being forced backwards from the force of the impacts.

The Heartless's body glowed again, and its wounds healed.

Sora immediately jumped into the fray, spinning his Keyblade in his hand before attacking.

"That's… the Heartless?" Kairi asked, staring at the long-necked creature before her. "Did it just heal itself?"

Riku nodded. "It has some powerful moves… and we would have taken it down already if it wasn't for its healing powers. Kairi, what _is_ that tiny thing that's in there?"

"That's Cyndaquil," Kairi replied worriedly. "I'll explain it to you guys later, but we need to get him out of there before anything happens to him!"

"I'm on it," Riku said, ducking as it sent a flurry of leaves his way. "Sora, cover me!"

"You got it!" Sora cried, jumping back and blasting a ball of fire at the Heartless.

Riku hurried towards Cyndaquil, who was glaring at the Heartless with intense determination. Before the little creature even noticed he was nearby, Riku scooped it up in his arms and turned to run back to Kairi.

He stopped, however, when Cyndaquil opened its mouth and a wisp of flames blew out from it. "Whoa!" Riku dropped it out of surprise, and Cyndaquil ran at the Heartless.

A few yards away from the creature, Cyndaquil tensed, body shaking. "Cyn… da…" Suddenly, the four red circles on its back burst into flames, startling the trio of friends _and_ the Heartless.

"What the…?" Riku muttered, dumbstruck.

"… Cynda… quil…?" Kairi murmured, eyes wide.

Cyndaquil's fur bristled and it raised its head high. "QUIL!" Flames shot from its mouth, and Sora jumped away to avoid the line of fire.

It slammed into the Heartless's chest, and the dark creature let out a cry of pain. It staggered backwards, head swaying side to side as flames burned on its body.

Riku didn't waste any time. "Sora!" He called.

The spiky-haired teen nodded his head, understanding.

"Dark aura!"

"Fire!"

The two attacks collided with the Heartless in a great explosion. Slowly, the smoke cleared and the damage was revealed. The dark creature was lying on the ground, weak flames still burning on its body and wings.

"Tt… tr…" Shaking, it tried to get up. "… Tr…" It finally gave up and collapsed. Dark wisps rose from its body, and it faded away.

Sora gave a sigh of relief, wiping the sweat off of his forehead. "Finally…"

Cyndaquil slowly relaxed, the flames disappearing on his back. "… Quil…" He slumped down on the ground. "Cynda…"

Riku stepped towards the fire mouse, and soon he was standing above the little creature. "… What _are_ you?"

Looking up, the squinty-eyed creature opened his mouth. "… Cyndaquil."

* * *

"Kairi, you should have told us right away about it!" Sora exclaimed, crossing his arms. "It's obviously not a normal… shrew… echidna… thing."

"I didn't know he could breathe fire!" Kairi retorted. "And he's a _boy_, not an it!"

"Quil!"

Riku sighed. "What a headache…"

The four of them were gathered in the living room of the brunet's house.

After the fiasco that had occurred only half an hour earlier, Sora's mother came rushing down, hysterical about what had happened. It took a bit of explaining and reassurance, but eventually they got her to calm down.

Sora's dad on the other hand, was currently taking measurements for a new front door. Both parents still weren't used to the thought of there being many worlds, or of their son being a hero. They just had different ways of dealing with it.

"Still Kairi, you should have called right after he appeared," Sora said.

"I'm sorry… I was going to call after dinner," Kairi replied from her spot on a pillow on the floor. "I mean, I was originally going to call right away, but I saw he was hurt and I needed to help."

Cyndaquil gave a soft squeak, turning his body to reveal the bandages that were pressed onto his side, as if to back up the auburn-haired girl's statement.

"Give her a break, Sora," Riku said, leaning back on the couch. "It… er… _he_ helped us out, after all."

"But…"

Kairi picked Cyndaquil up and held him in front of Sora's face. "Come on Sora," she said. "I said I was sorry. And you can't resist something so cute, right?"

Sora blinked, staring at the fire mouse that was shoved in his face. "… Um…"

Cyndaquil tilted his head to the side. "… Cynda?"

The brunet couldn't handle it. "Oh… alright Kairi, it's okay. Don't waste anytime next time though, okay? And uh… can you put him down?"

Kairi giggled and placed Cyndaquil onto the floor.

"So, what are you planning to do with him?" Riku asked, leaning forward.

"I'm going to keep him as a pet!" Kairi replied. "At least until we find his family. He was separated from them."

"You understand him?!" Sora exclaimed.

"No, not really… But he understands us, so if you just ask him yes or no questions, it's easy to understand."

"Makes sense," Riku commented.

Sora shrugged. "I guess… but separated from his family? You don't think the meteor shower from last night might have something to do with it? I mean, Kairi, you came here after the last one we had. Cyndaquil is probably one of those creatures the King wrote to us about."

"I was thinking the same thing," Riku said. "I was also thinking that the Heartless may have some relation to the meteor shower too."

Cyndaquil suddenly perked his head up. "Cynda!" He exclaimed.

"Huh?"

"Cyn, cynda!" Cyndaquil said, waving his tiny arms in the air.

"… I think… he's saying that there _is_ a connection…?" Sora asked uncertainly.

Cyndaquil nodded his head vigorously. "Cynda!"

"It'd be easier if we _could_ understand him," Riku said, reaching for a blank sheet of paper and a pencil lying on a nearby table.

"What're you doing?" Kairi asked.

"I'm writing the reply to Mickey. Remember, he said to write back if we see anything," the silver-haired boy replied.

"Oh yeah, I almost forgot about that," Sora said, scratching his head. "I'll go get the bottle."

"Right."

* * *

"You can sleep here," Kairi said, placing Cyndaquil on the large, soft pillow at the foot of her bed. They had gone back home after Riku finished writing the letter and chucked it into the ocean with the bottle. Mina wasn't happy that they had just run off, and after a long lecture they decided to go to bed.

Cyndaquil nodded, padding around on the pillow before curling up into a ball and yawning.

Kairi smiled before walking over to her dresser and pulling out some clothes. "I'm going to take a shower. Good night, Cyndaquil."

"Cynda…"

The auburn-haired girl left the door just slightly open, letting in a crack of light from the hallway illuminate the dark room.

Cyndaquil stayed still on his makeshift bed for a few moments before rolling over onto his back. _'That thing… a Heartless, they called it… It was a pokémon.'_ The fire mouse hadn't seen a long-necked pokémon with fruit growing under its chin before, but it was definitely a pokémon… or it had been at one time. _'It used pokémon attacks, like razor leaf and solarbeam…'_

That pokémon creature looked so much like those weird ant Heartless. They were dark with glowing yellow eyes too. Could they have somehow been transformed into those things?

… Could that have happened to his friends?

Cyndaquil shook his head. _'No! They couldn't have been!' _If he escaped as he was, then his friends did too. "…" He gave a sigh and curled up into a ball again. _'I wonder what happened to everyone. What about Ash and Pikachu, and all his other pokémon he has now? … If I keep thinking about it, then I won't be able to go to sleep…' _Yawning, he pressed his head into the pillow and tried to clear his mind. By the time Kairi returned in her sleepwear, Cyndaquil had finally fallen fast asleep.

* * *

Sora yawned, stepping out of his house and buckling his shoes. His dad made a late-night trip to the hardware store to buy a new front door, and all that noise had kept them and the neighbors up all night.

Taking a look around the yard, the spiky-haired brunet saw the damage from the night before. "I guess we need to plant new grass…" He said to himself as he scratched his head. That tear marks in the earth didn't look too good.

Whistling, he stepped out into the bright sunlight and headed down towards the docks. It didn't take long, however, for him to see something very… mind scarring.

"GAH! What _is_ that thing?!"

"Jiggly! Jigglypuff!" The round pink creature with _huge_, glistening blue eyes looked up to the boy, having just rolled out of the bushes. "Jigglypuff, jig!"

"… Jiggly… puff?" Sora repeated, a weird expression crossing his face. "Um… interesting. I'm going to go now." As he took a step to walk around the pink creature, it jumped in front of his path. "What? Do you need something?"

"Jig!" It held a black pen with a green cap to its mouth. And then it began _singing_. "Jig-glypuff, jig-gly-y-y puff…"

It didn't take too long for Sora to fall to the ground, asleep and snoring loudly.

"Ji—Jiggly?" The pink creature noticed its only audience had fallen asleep, and puffed up with an angry glare written all over its face. Uncapping the pen, it proudly held the tip in the air. "Jiggly…!"

* * *

"Sora…? Sora? Sora, wake up!"

The Keyblade wielder felt something shaking him, and he managed to force his eyes open. "Ugh…" Yawning, he sat up and looked around to find Kairi kneeling down next to him and Riku standing with Cyndaquil on his shoulder. "Hey guys… that was a nice nap."

Kairi stood up and placed her hands on her hips, though a strange look crossed her face. "Sora, you were supposed to meet us at the docks half an hour ago! We came looking for you, and we find you asleep on the sidewalk!"

"With a fake mustache on your face," Riku added with a smirk.

"Wha…?" Sora looked around and scrambled for a puddle a few feet away. "… AH!" Who the _hell_ scribbled eyelashes and an evil mustache on his face?! Not cool!

Kairi and Riku laughed as they watched their friend. "Anyway, what happened?"

Sora rubbed the last of the ink off of his face. "I'm not sure… There was this weird pink thing with huge eyes and a pen. It began… singing… and I fell asleep."

"… Weird pink thing?" Riku repeated, raising an eyebrow. Cyndaquil sighed from the silver-haired teen's shoulder.

"Seriously!" Sora exclaimed, jumping to his feet. "It was really…" He shivered as he remembered that strange creature that somehow reminded him of a strawberry marshmallow. It was way too girly. And it was saying "_jiggly_puff".

"Sora, you were probably just dreaming," Kairi said. "Did you get enough sleep last night?"

"Err… No, my dad kept us up all night trying to put the door up." Scratching his head, Sora added, "But I wasn't dreaming!"

"Sure, sure…" Kairi giggled quietly to herself. "Anyway, come on, we need to see if the King sent us a reply!"

Sighing, Sora stuffed his hands into his pockets and led the way down towards the dock. "… So… have _you_ two seen anything weird today?"

"A couple things, actually," Riku said. "There was a round blue creature with a big tail, and Kairi went gaga over a pink… I'm not even sure what it was, but it kind of looked like a dog standing on its hind legs."

"There was a purple cat with a forked tail too…" Kairi added. "Oh! And this adorable bird with fluffy wings that looked like clouds was sitting down in the tree out in my yard. Well… at least I _think_ it was a bird; it looked kind of weird."

"Huh… things are getting kind of weird here…"

"… 'Kind of'?"

* * *

"Gawrsh… What d'you think this here thing-a-majig is?" The tall dog-like creature examined the red pocket-sized object closely. "It's kind of weird, don't you think?"

"All of these things are weird!" The duck exclaimed, crossing his arms and tapping his foot on the grass impatiently. "Anyway, come on! Sora sent a letter back, and the King wants us to go to Destiny Islands PRONTO! Then we can head to Radiant Garden to get that thing checked out!"

"Ahyuck! Right!" Goofy dropped the device into the small bag filled with an array of strange objects that fell from the sky two nights earlier. As he and his friend headed from the garden down to the Gummi Ship hangar, he asked, "D'you think them creatures the King was talking about will give us some trouble?"

"Even if they do, we're trained professionals," Donald replied as he stepped down the steel stairs. "We can beat them, no problem!"

"I hope we don't have to hurt them too much…" Goofy mumbled. "They can't all be bad, right? It's not like they're Heartless or anything."

"That's right, but they might be turned into Heartless." As the duck entered the Gummi Ship, he added, "Anything with a heart is in danger! Now come on, we need to get going!"

Goofy followed Donald into the cockpit and approached his usual seat. He paused, however, when he saw it was already occupied. "… Hey Donald. D'you think this might be one of them creatures?"

"What?" Donald turned around and spotted the orange creature with red patches on its cheeks and a groove in its lightning bolt shaped tail. It was examining the control panel, nose twitching. Turning around and looking up at the two, glitter-like sparks fell from its fur. "Pika?"

… … …

"Waaaaah! GET IT!"

"PIKACHU!"

_BZZZZZZZZZZZZZZT!_

Donald twitched on the floor, smoke rising from his smoldering feathers. Goofy scratched the back of his head as the long-eared creature jumped up onto the back of the chair to look up at him.

"Gawrsh, Donald, I think you scared it…"

"Pika…"

The communication screen flickered to life above the control panel.

"Sorry about that guys!" Chip exclaimed. "Dale was supposed to tell you about Chuka!"

The red nosed chipmunk laughed, half goofily, half nervously. "Eheheh… Sorry…"

"Ahyuck! You know about it?" Goofy asked as Donald jumped to his feet.

Chip nodded. "Yeah! She wandered into the hangar this morning. The Gummi Ship was having some problems, and she has these electric powers so we asked her to help!"

"Oh… so your name is Chuka?" Goofy turned to look at the orange creature perched on the chair, ignoring Donald's grumbling.

Nodding, she replied, "Pika!"

"I think she said she's a pikachu or something like that," Chip said. "I'm not sure, we can't understand her but she can understand us."

"We're going to go and tell the King about her after you guys leave!" Dale said happily.

Donald crossed his arms and huffed. "Are you sure she isn't dangerous?"

Chuka's cheeks sparked as she glared at the duck. "Pika…"

"Only if you make her mad…"

"Huh…" Carefully picking up the pikachu, Donald placed her on the ground outside of the ship and made sure to close the door behind him. "Well, come on, let's get going!"

Goofy sat down on his seat and started up the ship. "Right! To Destiny Islands!"

Chuka's ears drooped as she scowled, staring at the Gummi Ship with a foul expression. "Pika…"

* * *

... I have no idea where Chuka came from. I just needed some cute little electric-type (one that could be picked up easily and get into tight spaces), but I didn't want to use a pachirisu, nor an existing character (definately not Ash's Pikachu.) So I decided on a pikachu because it doesn't shock itself like pichu.

But then I'm thinking, "Shoot, it has to be a girl because the whole gender-difference tail thing." I didn't want another male pikachu to have even a supporting role in the story because it would get confusing. Yes, Chuka is a shiny pikachu. That was just to demonstrate how I may POSSIBLY include some shiny pokemon, be they friend or foe. No idea if shininess will affect anything yet. Though original characters will be kept to a minimum because they aren't the main characters.

Anyway, review!


	4. Chapter 3

Hey everyone, next chapter finally up! This time, we'll be seeing a (hopefully) familiar face... I mean, if you watch the anime and you know Ash's... wait, I'm going to stop there. You need to read for yourself to figure it out!

"Speech."

_'Thoughts.'_

**"Translated pokémon speech."**

* * *

**Storm of Fire**

**Chapter 3**

* * *

"Did you guys find anything?"

"Nope, nothing at all."

"Man, I thought the King would've sent something already…"

The group had spent the past hour combing the beach of the play island for any sign of the King's bottle. Sadly, they came up empty-handed.

"Well… maybe the letter just isn't here yet," Kairi said, holding her hands behind her back as she looked down the beach.

"Then what should we do in the meantime?" Riku asked.

"Grab some lunch!" Sora exclaimed. "And then maybe check out what other weird creatures there are here."

'_Those weird creatures are called pokémon, Sora…'_ Cyndaquil thought from his position perched on Riku's shoulder. A small frown crossed his mouth. _'It would really help if I could speak human…'_

"… Is something wrong, Cyndaquil?" Kairi asked, looking over at the fire mouse. She had only known the creature for less than a day, but she could already tell when something was bothering him.

Cyndaquil shook his head quickly. "Quil." Turning to look at Sora, he added, "Cynda!" And then his stomach gave a growl.

"Right!" Sora exclaimed. "Let's go get some food!"

They headed down to the pier and jumped into the only boat tied to the dock. As Sora, Kairi, and Riku spoke animatedly about what they would do next, Cyndaquil looked down at the water with a worried expression.

'… _Water…'_ The fire mouse was tense. How deep was the ocean? Definitely not knee deep. Sure, he had jumped into water to do some battles, like that one time against Pryce, the Mahogany Town gym leader… but at least the indoor pool wasn't _a giant dark abyss filled with unknown creatures_.

Slowly, Cyndaquil's gaze lifted to look farther out at the sea. Something caught his attention; something far away and silvery against the blue waves. "… Cynda…?"

Suddenly, the boat shook as if something slammed into it. It rocked violently and everyone did pretty much the exact same thing; scream.

"AAHH!"

"QUIL!"

The little row boat was tipped over, and everyone inside it went tumbling out.

Sora's head broke through the surface of the water and he took a deep breath. "Kairi!" He called, "Riku!"

Both teens swam to the top and gasped for air.

"W-what's going on?!" Kairi exclaimed. "What tipped the boat over?" And then she noticed something else as she looked around. "Where's Cyndaquil?!"

Sora and Riku both looked to each other in alarm and ducked their heads under the waves. Straining to see as the salt stung their eyes, they spotted the little fire mouse flailing his arms as a dark figure pulled him underwater. Just at the edge of their vision, they could see two… no, three other finned creatures circling them from underneath.

Giving a quick look to Riku, Sora dove down. The silver-haired teen on the other hand, went back up.

"What's going on?" Kairi asked, clinging to the side of the row boat.

"Sora's getting Cyndaquil, but there's no time to ask questions!" Riku exclaimed. "Hurry, get on the boat!"

Kairi was confused, but she clamored out of the water. "Riku, what's going on…?" She repeated.

"There's something down there," Riku said quickly, climbing onto the boat as well and summoning Way to the Dawn. "They're circling the boat…"

"Circling? Like what sharks do?!"

Riku kept an eye on the waves, constantly turning his head to get a 360 degree view. "… Grr…" A quick blur of movement caught his attention, and like a bullet a shark-like creature jumped out of the water, flying straight at them. "Duck!" Riku pushed Kairi low to the ground and shielded her from the attack.

The shark's scales only brushed against Riku's back, but they ripped through his shirt and scratched his skin. "Sharpedo!" It landed back into the water with a splash.

"Arg…!" Riku winced, slowly standing up and balancing himself on the boat. "That thing's scales… It felt like sandpaper…!"

"You're bleeding!" Kairi gasped. She looked around at the water. "Where's Sora?"

As if on cue, the spiky-haired brunette broke through the surface with Cyndaquil clinging to his head. "Guys!"

"Sora!"

The Keyblade wielder swam over to the boat, and Cyndaquil jumped on, shaking his fur off. The fire mouse slumped over, exhausted. "Are you two alright?" Sora asked, keeping a hand on the boat.

Riku nodded, adjusting his footing. It was hard to keep balance; one attack and he'd only be knocked back into the water. "Look out!" Another shark came flying out of the ocean and headed straight towards them.

"Squirtle, squirt!"

Several jets of water blasted the shark, sending it backwards and away from the boat.

Everyone turned to look at the source of the water, only to see a group of blue turtle creatures swimming to them through the water. And the strangest thing… was that all of them were wearing sunglasses.

Cyndaquil immediately pushed himself up, realizing who it was. _'The Squirtle Squad! That means…!'_

All but one of the squirtle dove below the surface, and the one with the largest sunglasses swam over to the boat. **"Is everyone alri…?"** He trailed off when he saw Cyndaquil. Lifting the edge of his sunglasses, he asked, **"Cyndaquil?! Buddy, is that you?"**

"**Squirtle!"** Cyndaquil exclaimed, heart fluttering like pidgey's wings in his surprise. **"You came just in time! All these pokémon are attacking us!"**

"**Sharpedo, and they're hungry!"** Squirtle replied. "Don't worry; we'll take care of them!" As another sharpedo jumped up, the tinyturtle shot it down with a water gun.

"Cyndaquil, what's going on?" Sora asked, leaning over to speak with the fire mouse. "Are these… turtles here to help us?" Somehow, it was a strange thing for the spiky-haired brunet to say.

Cyndaquil nodded his head vigorously. "Cyn, cyn!"

At once, all four of the sharpedo were thrown into the air.

"Sharp, sharpedo!" They hit the water hard, and as quick as they could they swam away.

The squirtle jumped up and gave a cheer, lifting their sunglasses and winking in unison before falling back down with loud splashes.

Squirtle shouted a few commands to his squad, and they all began pushing the boat towards the main island. Luckily, they weren't _too_ far away from the shore.

Riku lowered himself to sit, and he and Kairi made room for Sora to climb on.

"That was close," Sora muttered, shaking his head and sending droplets of sea water everywhere. "Those sharks weren't messing around! They were almost as strong as that shark from Atlantica!"

"Are you hurt?" Kairi asked, looking at Sora with worried eyes. "Riku got scratched by the skin of one of the sharks."

"I'm fine," Sora said, turning to Riku. "Scratched?"

The silver-haired teen nodded, angling himself to show his friends the scratches on his back as he tried not to wince. "And this was my good shirt too," he joked.

After several minutes, the group finally made it back to the main island. They jumped onto the dock, and with the help of the Squirtle Squad the boat was flipped right-side up.

"Thanks, guys," Sora said, kneeling down to look at the turtles. "It's so hard to fight in water when you don't have a tail to move with."

"Squirtle, squirt!" Squirtle gave a thumbs up. **"No problem, Spiky!"**

"Anyway… let's go get lunch. But before that we should get something for Riku's back."

"Sora, how can you think about food after all of that?" Riku asked as he suppressed a laugh.

"All that swimming takes a lot out of you, you know!" Sora exclaimed.

"Can I try something?" Kairi asked, looking back and forth between Sora and Riku.

"Huh? Try what?"

Everyone watched as Kairi stood behind Riku. Thrusting a hand into the air, she gave a small shout. "Cure!"

A green light glowed around Riku, and the scratches on his back healed.

"Kairi, you can use magic?!" Sora exclaimed, surprise etched all over his face and in his blue eyes.

"I've been practicing at home," Kairi replied with a satisfied grin. "Before they left, I asked Donald for some pointers. So far I've only tried to cure though, and this was the first time it worked properly. It's good, right?" She looked at her friends for reassurance.

Riku nodded. "Nice work Kairi. It's like I was never hurt."

"Well, now that that's done with, let's go get some lunch!" Sora said. "And something good to celebrate Kairi's first successful spell!" He turned and looked at the Squirtle Squad. "You guys are welcome to join us. Seeing as you saved our lives and all, it's the least we could do."

"Squirtle!" All of the tinyturtles nodded their heads, and everyone made their way into town.

* * *

In town, Sora, Kairi, and Riku bought several take-out lunches from the local market street. With the pokémon following close behind, they headed towards the park.

"When were you planning to tell us you were trying to learn magic?" Riku asked as they placed everything on the table under the shade of a tree.

"Yeah, I could have given you some pointers," Sora added.

Kairi shrugged in response. "I was going to tell you guys sometime, but I guess I wanted to see how well I could do this on my own. But let me tell you this; casting spells is not easy…!"

Sora laughed. "Tell me about it! But it's good that you're learning, Kairi. If the Heartless or Nobodies try going after you, they'll have another thing coming!"

Kairi giggled. "You got that right!"

After the lunches were set up, Squirtle turned to look at his old friend. **"So, Cyndaquil, how's thing's been going for you?"**

"**Good, I guess…"** Cyndaquil replied. **"… Squirtle, do you know where the others are?"**

"**Others? You mean like Ash, Pikachu and all of them?**

Cyndaquil nodded. **"I haven't seen any of them yet. Since you and the rest of the Squirtle Squad are together, I thought that maybe…"**

Squirtle shook his head. **"No, sorry, I haven't." **It was quiet for a few moments as the tinyturtle reached for ones of the sandwiches set out for the pokémon. **"… What happened a couple nights ago? My squad ran into these weird creatures with yellow eyes, and after some battling we were knocking out. Then we wound up here."**

"**Were you hurt?"** Cyndaquil asked.

Squirtle shook his head again. **"No. Our shells were too hard for those bugs to scratch through,"** he said proudly.

"**Oh…"** Cyndaquil nibbled on a piece of bread before replying, **"Well there was this storm… and everyone was trying to fight those creatures. Bulbasaur told me to go get Professor Oak, but I couldn't find him. And then there was this giant… thing!"** The fire mouse flailed his arms for an added effect. **"It ripped the roof off of the lab…!"** Sighing, he added, **"The only reason I got away without too much damage was because I got into my poké ball. I don't think the others were as lucky though."** Purposely, he left out the mysterious voice. He didn't want to say anything until he knew more about it, because knowing Squirtle, the tinyturtle would only joke and say he was crazy.

"**They're alright!"** Squirtle said with a smile. **"Don't worry! If we made it through, and all those other pokémon around here made it through, then they definitely made it through!"**

"**But I haven't seen any of them yet…"** Pausing, Cyndaquil shrugged to himself. **"I guess they're just somewhere else. Yeah, you're right Squirtle, I shouldn't worry. They're probably alright."** Now that Cyndaquil had seen one of his old friends, he felt a lot better. But unease still bubbled in his stomach, and it wasn't because he was hungry.

"**That's the spirit!"** Squirtle said. **"Anyway, I have some questions about your new friends. Sora, Kairi and Riku, right?"** At Cyndaquil's nod, the tinyturtle said, **"They're pretty weird humans. Those weapons just flashed to their hands, and then they were talking about magic. I didn't know humans could do that stuff."**

Cyndaquil noticed that, but he had been brushing it off until now. **"… Well… Maybe it's just them, or maybe all the humans here can do something like that. We're not in our world anymore, you know…"**

"**Good point,"** Squirtle said, finishing off his sandwich. **"We really aren't in our world. I mean, the people here don't even know what pokémon are!"**

After the meal, everyone helped to clean up the rubbish. The Squirtle Squad gave a final salute before they made their way back to the beach.

"**We'll swing by later!"** Squirtle said. **"We just need to make sure those sharpedo don't mess with anyone else!"**

"**We'll make them wish they'd never messed with us!"** One of the other squirtle exclaimed, and the squad cheered.

"**Bye!"** Cyndaquil said, waving his paw from his position in Kairi's arms.

As the Squirtle Squad left, Sora said, "Those guys were pretty cool. Little turtles that can beat sharks? Hardcore."

"Without them we would've been fish food, or at least be missing a leg by the time we got back to shore," Riku added.

Kairi smiled and looked down at Cyndaquil. "Was that one of you friends, Cyndaquil?"

The fire mouse nodded his head with enthusiasm. "Cyn!"

"That's great! But… there are more out there, aren't there?"

"… Quil…"

"Don't worry, we'll find them!" Sora said, hanging his arms around the necks of his friends. "I traveled all around the worlds trying to find these two over here, and I found them! We'll find your friends too."

"Cyndaquil…" **"Thanks, guys…"**

* * *

"How long until arrival?" Donald asked as he steered the ship.

"Approximately fifteen minutes!" Chip said from the communication screen on the controls. "You'll reach Destiny Islands by sunset!"

"Great! Right on schedule!"

Goofy shot down a couple Heartless ships that flew by. "I wonder how Sora's doin'. You don't think anything happened, do ya?"

"Goofy, what could have happened since they sent the King their letter?" Donald asked. "Anyway, Chip, Dale, you guys sent a message to Radiant Garden, right?"

"Roger that!" Dale said, saluting. "Cid sent the return message just a few minutes ago!"

"A few minutes?" Goofy repeated.

"They're really busy right now," Chip explained. "What with all those creatures, the Heartless, and then there's the restoration going on… They've got their hands full."

"Well, when we get there we'll be sure to help out," Donald said. "The Heartless won't be a problem on our watch!"

A few minutes later, after hours of flying the Gummi Ship, they Destiny Islands finally came into view.

"Finally!" Donald exclaimed. "I can't wait until I can stretch my wings! All this flying it tiring!"

"Ahyuck, be glad you aren't really flying Donald," Goofy said. "Remember the Pride Lands?"

Donald grumbled under his breath as he remembered how much his wings ached after all of the flying in that world. Letting the ship come to a stop high in the sky above Destiny Islands, Dale asked, "So, where are you guys going to check first, huh?"

"In town," Donald replied. "They don't normally stay on the play island at night."

"Well, just remember that you don't need to hurry," Chip said. "And the King said it would be a good idea to get a good look around the island yourself. You guys can head to Radiant Garden tomorrow."

"Right, right! Now, come on Goofy! We gotta look for Sora!"

"Ahyuck, right!"

* * *

"Man, I love marshmallows," Sora commented, turning the gooey sweet over the fire. Everyone was gathered at Kairi's house tonight, roasting marshmallows and making s'mores after a good night's dinner. It was surprising that houses on Destiny Islands had fireplaces, but there had been more than one occasion where a light snow had covered the ground and chilled the air. Tonight was chilly but it wasn't one of those nights, but they lit a fire anyway.

The Squirtle Squad returned just as they said they would, and they were enjoying the graham cracker, chocolate, marshmallow treat.

Kairi turned over her own marshmallow, and couldn't help but laugh when Sora's dropped into the fire to burn.

Riku snickered as he popped a piece of chocolate into his mouth. "Bad luck, Sora."

"Aw man, this happens every time we make these!" Sora grabbed another marshmallow from the bag and poked it onto the stick.

"**I can see why you like these guys,"** Squirtle commented with a smirk on his face as he watched Sora. **"They're pretty funny."** Blinking, he looked over Cyndaquil. **"… Hey, what's up?"**

Cyndaquil sighed. **"It's just… before you guys came over today I tried to light the fire. It took me three tries before I could make a good fire. Something's wrong… It's like how it was before, when it took a while for me to light my flame. It's been like that for a while."**

"**You're probably just feeling lousy,"** Squirtle said. **"Every pokémon has their off days. Remember that story you guys told me about Sceptile? About how he couldn't use any attacks after that meganium broke his heart? It'll get better soon."**

"**I hope so,"** Cyndaquil said. **"Otherwise I won't be too much help when it comes to fighting off angry pokémon and those Heartless things."**

* * *

"I guess sea-salt ice cream's become popular even here," Goofy said, looking around and seeing a few residents holding the blue ice cream popsicle in their hands.

"Goofy, stay focused!" Donald exclaimed. "We need to find Sora, not see what the islanders here have to eat!"

"But it wouldn't hurt to have some dinner, would it?" Goofy asked. "I'm kinda starving."

"… I guess that's true," Donald said. "I'm pretty hungry too. Let's grab something to go." Going into a market, they bought a few sandwiches and continued their journey.

"All the islanders are pretty relaxed," Donald observed. "Even though there are all those creatures walking around." As he said it, a young kid no older than seven walked by, cream-colored cat with a golden coin on its head at his side.

"They seemed to have adjusted pretty easily," Goofy said, eating the last of his sandwich. "I wonder what they are."

Donald shrugged. "Maybe Leon and the committee will have answers. They're supposed to be doing research, making notes and stuff like that." He lifted his sandwich to his mouth to take a bite, but stopped when something brushed against his leg. "Huh?"

A blue and white cat with a spring-like tail had walked over to the duck and stared at the sandwich expectantly. "Glam."

"What?" Donald looked at the cat before turning to his sandwich. "Get your own food!"

"Meow…" The cat's claws flexed, probably debating whether it should scratch Donald or not.

"Aw, don't be mean, Donald." Goofy kneeled down pulled out the extra sandwich they had bought. "Here, you can have this." He held it out.

The cat took a cautious sniff and slowly ate the food. "Glameow."

"Kat, Kat! Where did you go?" A bubbly brunette in a yellow sundress made her way down the street, and when she spotted the cat a grin crossed her face. "There you are!"

The cat meowed, licking its paw. "Meow, meow."

"Thanks for finding Kat for me," the girl said. "She was hungry and went off to look for food." Pausing, she examined Donald and Goofy closely with her bright green eyes. "… Hey, aren't you the two Sora mentioned?"

"Sora?" Donald blinked.

"You know Sora?" Goofy asked.

The girl nodded. "Yep! I'm Selphie, one if his friends!"

"That's great!" Donald exclaimed. "Could you tell us where he is? We need to speak with him!"

"Sure! Now, let's see…" Selphie thought for a moment as she carried Kat in her arms. "I think Sora and Riku said they were going to Kairi's house for dinner tonight…"

"Great! Could you tell us where Kairi's house is?"

Selphie nodded. "Keep going down this road until you hit Starlight Street. Take a left, and her house is the fifth one on the right. It's a really nice white and blue two-floor house, you can't miss it."

"Garwsh, thanks Selphie!" Goofy said. "You're a big help!"

"Don't mention it!" The brunette replied with a huge smile.

_

* * *

_

Knock-knock-knock!

Everyone turned to look towards the front door.

"I'll get it!" Sora leaped to his feet and rushed over to the door, toasted marshmallow on a stick in hand. When he answered the knock, he dropped his marshmallow in surprise. "Donald?! Goofy?!"

"What?" Riku and Kairi got to their feet and rushed over.

Cyndaquil and the Squirtle Squad exchanged glances and leaned over to get a better look.

"What're you guys doing here?" Sora asked with a grin on his face. He wasn't expecting them to be back so soon.

"King's orders!" Donald replied. "He wants us to head over to Radiant Garden to get more information on those creatures."

"Huh? The King sent you guys here? Why didn't he tell us you were coming sooner?"

"I guess the King thought that sending a note would take too long," Goofy said.

"It must be urgent then," Riku muttered.

"It sure is!" Donald exclaimed. "Leon, Cid and everyone else have their hands full, and those creatures _and_ the Heartless keep interfering with the restoration!"

"Well, we can't just let them handle this on their own," Sora said, scratching the back of his head and sighing. "And we just got back too…"

"Gawrsh, I'm sorry Sora," Goofy said sympathetically.

The brunet shook his head. "No, it's no problem!" He said cheerfully. "I was hoping to relax a bit more under the sun, but when duty calls, the Keyblade master has to be there to answer!"

"Great!" Donald chirped, confidence in his eyes. "We'll take care of those Heartless no sweat! We'll leave tomorrow!"

Sora nodded, and Riku spoke up. "I'm coming too."

"Good to have you on board, Riku!"

Kairi looked between her two friends, a determined look on her face. "Count me in!"

Immediately, everyone turned to look at Kairi.

A look of worry flashed across Sora's face. "Kairi, this might get really dangerous…"

"So? Every time you guys leave me alone here, I get into some kind of trouble anyway," Kairi said. "I don't want to be the damsel in distress _again_! That's why I'm learning magic! You said it yourself, Sora, the next time the Heartless run into me they'll have another thing coming!"

"But…"

"Let her come, Sora," Riku said, looking over to his best friend. "She can train at Radiant Garden. That wizard who taught you lives there now, right? He can train Kairi. And this is also a great opportunity to look for more of Cyndaquil's friends."

"Cyndaquil?" Donald and Goofy glanced to each other, confused.

"Oh, that's right!" Kairi looked over into the living room. "Guys, can you come here for a second?"

A few moments later, all of the pokémon crammed into the hall.

Donald jumped back and pointed. "It's more of those creatures!"

"Uh-huh!" Sora said with a nod. His bent over and picked up the fire mouse. "Donald, Goofy, this is Cyndaquil. Kairi found him, and he helped us defeat a powerful Heartless last night."

"And this is Squirtle and his group," Kairi added, indicating the water-types on the floor. "They helped us when we got into some trouble earlier out on the ocean."

"Nice to meet you," Goofy said, shaking Cyndaquil's little paw and waving at the turtles.

"… Well if he helped you guys beat a Heartless…" Donald scratched the back of his head. "Okay. We'll leave tomorrow morning, so pack up your bags tonight!"

"Right!"

* * *

Kairi stuffed as much as she could in a single suitcase. She was pleased that she wouldn't be left behind again. It was lonely when she was left waiting for her two friends to return from whatever adventure they had to run off to.

Riku had gone home to pack his own things, but Sora stayed behind and watched Kairi pack. The Squirtle Squad left back to their makeshift shelter on the beach, and Cyndaquil was sitting on the bed.

"Are you sure you want to come?" Sora asked for the umpteenth time.

"Yes, Sora, I'm sure," Kairi said.

"But it might get dangerous…"

Kairi sighed, pausing in her packing. "I know. But I'll be ready, and if I ever get in too much trouble, you'll be there to help me, right?" She smiled a smile that made Sora blush.

"Y-yeah, of course…!" Sora scratched his cheek. "… But just in case…" He got to his feet from his position sitting on the floor and there were two bright flashes of light.

Kairi blinked in surprise, and Cyndaquil opened his mouth in amazement.

Sora held two Keyblades, one in each hand. Both were the design of the Kingdom Key, but he held the one in his left hand out and tossed it to Kairi, who fumbled to catch it.

"Sora, are you sure?" Kairi asked, staring down at the Keyblade.

The spiky-haired brunet nodded with a grin. "Yeah, positive! You can protect yourself better, and it helps to cast magic! I'll let you borrow it until all of this gets settled."

"Thanks, Sora…" Kairi murmured. She examined the keychain and an idea popped into her mind. Reaching into her pocket, she pulled out her lucky charm. Sora and Cyndaquil watched as she hooked the charm onto the blade.

The Kingdom Key flashed again, and in its place was Oathkeeper.

"That's better," Kairi giggled, test swinging the blade before letting it disappear. "Nothing will stop us now, right?"

"You got it, Kairi!"

* * *

So many things happened in this chapter, and it jumped all over the place too! Well, let's see... Where to start?

Cyndaquil does seem to be having a slight trouble lighting his fire. This doesn't affect moves like smokescreen, quick attack, swift and the like, but it does affect his ability to use flamethrower.

Yes, Sora can dual wield. It's canon, according to an interview with Tetsuya Nomura (the game director for Kingdom Hearts if you didn't know.) And wielders can let certain others "borrow" their Keyblades (as seen with the Roxas vs. Riku battle in the Final Mix secret ending, Riku handing Kairi the flowery Keyblade in the World That Never Was in KH2, and the final battle against Xemnas.) We already know Sora doesn't need two blades to kick butt, and Kairi can't be the damsel in distress all the time, can she?

A couple other characters will be brought in next chapter. Hehehe...

Review!


	5. Chapter 4

Chapter 4 up! I've had this done for a couple weeks now (right after I posted Chapter 3, actually) but I waited a while to put the next one up to give me time to type more of Chapter 5 up. Anyway... By the way, I have a notice at the bottom of the chapter.

"Speech."

_'Thoughts.'_

**"Translated pokémon speech."**

* * *

**Storm of Fire**

**Chapter 4**

* * *

"Are you guys ready?" Donald looked between Sora, Riku and Kairi, and then to Cyndaquil who was standing next to the trio with his only piece of luggage in his paws; his poké ball.

"Just about," Sora replied with a nod.

At the shoreline by the docks of the main island, everyone was gathered. The Gummi Ship was settled on the sand, ramp down and waiting for its passengers-to-be to climb aboard.

"Well, if you have any last minute things, make it quick. We might be staying at Radiant Garden for a while."

A sudden splash alerted everyone to the arrival of Squirtle. The tinyturtle pulled off his large sunglasses and hurried over to the group.

"**Hey Cyndaquil, are you guys leaving already?"**

The fire mouse nodded his head. **"Yes. Are you sure you don't want to come…?"**

Squirtle laughed, scratching the back of his head. **"Well… my squad needs me, you know?"** He said. **"I mean, I'd love to come and help you guys… but we have duties here. With all those dangerous pokémon appearing in the water…"**

"**I know…"** Cyndaquil looked down. **"I guess I was hoping to have a familiar face around."**

"**Aw, don't worry!"** Squirtle chirped, patting the fire mouse on the back. **"You'll find the others soon. Plus, if you ever need to talk to us again, you'll know where we are!"**

Cyndaquil nodded his head and reached up with his tiny paws to rub his eyes. **"Y-yeah, you're right…!"**

Squirtle laughed again. **"Still a baby after all this time!"**

"**H-hey! I'm not a baby!"**

The tinyturtle just grinned and stepped back. **"Well… see you around later."**

"**Same… bye."**

The group made their way into the ship. Before the door closed, Sora peered outside and lifted his hand in a salute. "I'll leave the island's safety to you!"

"Squirtle, squirt!" The tinyturtle mimicked the gesture and stood as proudly as he could.

As the door closed and the engines started, Squirtle jumped back. The ship slowly rose into the air, and he could just barely see the images of his new friends looking down with their faces pressed against the tiny windows. Soon the ship was gone, and Squirtle was left alone on the beach with the sound of the rolling waves providing the only noise.

"Squirtle, squirt-squirtle…" **"Man, what a weird 'ship'…"**

* * *

It took _hours_ to get to Radiant Garden. It was a long trip. Sora was dying to see what everyone was up to, and how far the city progressed in its restoration. It had been several weeks since he last paid a visit to the world, and he was excited at the prospect of seeing his friends again.

In the meantime, however, the spiky-haired brunet has to settle with shooting down Heartless and Nobody ships. Which wasn't that bad, all things considered. "You're going down, Heartless!"

Riku and Kairi laughed from their seats in the back of the ship. They could hear Sora's excited shouts coming from the cockpit. But even as they laughed, Kairi had her head pressed up against the window. It was amazing, seeing space like this.

Cyndaquil seemed just as awestruck. He was struggling to stare out the window over Kairi's shoulder.

Riku on the other hand was cool, as usual, but he couldn't help feeling a similar amazement. He didn't go riding around in Gummi Ships that often. Actually, he hadn't even ridden one before. He had used the corridors of darkness since he could remember, and seeing as he lost the power to use them…

After what seemed like ages of staring out at the distant worlds under the guise of stars, a voice came over the intercom.

"Attention passengers, attention passengers. We are now approaching Radiant Garden. Estimated arrival time is… um… 15 minutes, I guess…"

Again, Riku and Kairi couldn't hold back small bouts of laughter as Sora played pilot.

* * *

"Hey guys! Come on, we need to get going already."

The two creatures, one yellow and blue, the other yellow and red, climbed out of the little basket dubbed their bed.

"Plu, plu!"

"Min, min!"

The silvery-blue haired boy grinned as the electric pokémon jumped onto his shoulders, energized already for the work ahead.

"Hey Tory." The black-haired ninja was chocolate brown eyes leaned forward, startling the younger boy. "Up already?"

"Yuffie!" Tory held a hand over his chest, trying to catch his breath. "… Y-yeah… We're going to help with the machines at the center again."

"Aw, that's our little volunteer!" Yuffie ruffled the boy's hair, much to Tory's embarrassment. "It's great to have another mechanical hand around here—not literally of course. That would be just weird. Anyway, hop to it!"

"Right." Tory looked between his two pokémon pals before running out of the little house and into the streets.

People walked around, holding bags of groceries, conversing with each other, and even wandering with their pokémon. Tory was surprised to see so many pokémon trainers here; Leon had said that there were many worlds, and survivors could have wound up anywhere.

Survivors… It was a sad thought. What had happened to his father? Or Yuko? And everyone else that was in the city?

A loud whistle screeched, ripping through the air. A blue-haired officer and her growlithe chased down a man with a ski mask over his head. A robber, obviously, but with Officer Jenny on his tail he wasn't getting too far.

At least some comforting faces were around. Officer Jenny would help to keep the peace in this… world… But pokémon trainers needed a place to heal up their pokémon.

That was the reason why Tory was headed to the marketplace. He was supposed to help Nurse Joy build a pokémon center. From scratch.

A daunting task, yes, but with Plusle and Minun at his side he wouldn't let anyone down. It was just a good thing that his father was a professor and he learned how to work machines.

In the marketplace, a large piece of land was set aside for the pokémon center. People worked day and night ever since trainers and pokémon landed here to build a recognizable building, and it was surprisingly almost finished. The healing machines, however, were a different story entirely.

"At least the one we found is fixed up," Tory commented, recalling the wrecked machine that had been found in the Great Maw. "Cid's trying to replicate it, and he seems to be having a good time figuring out how it works."

"Plu, plusle!" The plus pokémon chirped happily. Tory didn't understand too well, but he guessed it meant something along the lines of, "We'll work everything out!"

"Uh, excuse me."

Tory blinked, turning around. It was an older boy, probably in his late teens, with messy brown-blond hair and emerald colored eyes scratched his head. Apparently he was a bit nervous, or perhaps embarrassed.

"Hey… I'm new here, so, uh, can you tell me where I can rent an apartment?"

"Oh, yeah… There are a bunch of apartments and a few small houses for rent right now. There's a help center over there, and they have a record of all available housing."

"Thanks so much!" The older teenager looked absolutely ecstatic as he ran towards the place Tory was pointing to.

"That was kind of weird," the silvery-blue haired boy muttered.

"Minun, min…"

* * *

"Oh wow, they've been working hard here!" Sora looked around excitedly as he stepped down the relatively crowded streets.

"Radiant Garden…" Kairi murmured, examining her surroundings with a more quiet awe. "… Wow…"

The Keyblade master turned to look at his friends. "So, let's go find Leon and the gang! And then we can see how everything's going!"

"Good idea," Goofy commented.

Sora led the way down the street, wracking his brain to remember the way to Merlin's house. If it wasn't for the drastic change the city had gone through, it would have been easy!

Radiant Garden was returning to the image that its namesake brought up, if only slowly. The streets and buildings were, for the most part, repaired and intact. There were even places were grass was growing in patches of earth, and where trees towered over the houses to create a more friendly appearance and cast shade from the afternoon sun.

"… Sora, are you sure you know where you're going?" Donald looked skeptical as the spiky-haired brunet scratched the back of his head.

"Yeah, of course! It hasn't been _that_ long since we've been here!"

"… You really don't know where we're going, do you?" Riku asked.

"… Y-yeah… But everything just looks so different! Cleaner and friendlier!"

A sudden scream echoed around the streets. "Heartless!" Immediately, everyone began running, rushing to the safety of the nearby buildings.

A gang of Soldiers, Neoshadows and a Morning Star hurried across the cement, lashing out at the panicking civilians as they ran.

"Heartless!" Sora exclaimed, Keyblade flashing to his hand. Everyone quickly pulled their weapons out, and Cyndaquil jumped forward with the flame on his back bursting to life.

Everyone split up, Donald and Goofy running to take out the Neoshadows while Riku and Kairi rushed to defeat the Soldiers. Sora and Cyndaquil took on the Morning Star.

"Watch out for when it spins!" Sora warned as the large Heartless jumped and pulled its limbs in. Landing on one of its spikes, it began to spin around.

Cyndaquil jumped, and Sora blocked the attack. The fire mouse paused for a moment, as if concentrating with great intensity, and then blasted a line of fire from its mouth.

The Morning Star staggered from the attack, and Sora rushed to slam it with the Keyblade.

"Whoa!" Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Kairi jump back when a strange white machine blasted several Heartless into the air. "What was that?!"

"They're called claymores, Kairi," Goofy replied. "It's the town defense mecha-something or other."

"Defense mechanism," Donald corrected.

"Ahyuck, Right!"

"Riku, look out!" Sora exclaimed as he blocked another spinning attack from the Morning Star.

The silver-haired teen spun around, blocking the cyclone attack of a Soldier with his dark shield.

"Everyone, watch out!" Goofy threw his shield at a group of Heartless, knocking them off balance and flying just inches over Cyndaquil's head.

Donald pointed his staff at a mass of darkness on the ground, waiting for the Neoshadow to immerge. When it jumped up and moved into it's spinning attack, he shouted, "Blizzard!" The blast of ice slammed into the pureblood and it disappeared in a burst of dark smoke.

"It's almost down!" Sora exclaimed, eyes narrowing as he watched the Morning Star in front of him. "Get it!"

Golden stars shot from Cyndaquil's mouth, barraging the large Heartless and pushing it backwards. "Quil!"

Sora ran forward and jumped, swinging his Keyblade with all his might and smashing it into the Heartless's head.

The Morning Star staggered backwards and fell onto several Soldiers. With bursts of darkness, the hearts they held captive rose into the air and disappeared, hopefully back to their awaiting bodies.

"Everyone alright?" Sora asked, turning and looking around at his friends. The Heartless were defeated, and everyone was taking a moment to catch their breath.

"Y-yeah," Kairi replied, panting and forcing herself to stand up. "That was a real work-out, right guys?"

"It sure was," Goofy agreed, wiping a bit of sweat from his forehead.

"Let's go find Leon quick before—." Donald was cut off when several Armored Knights and Surveillance Robots appeared from small portals of darkness, surrounding the group. "Waaaah! Not more of them!"

Everyone stepped back until they were back-to-back.

"This isn't good," Riku muttered. "There are a lot of them…"

"Cynda…"

Several of the Armored Knights stepped forward and leaped in a swift, simultaneous motion.

"Mane, manect!" Suddenly, a blast of electricity rained down upon the Heartless. The Surveillance Robots sparked uncontrollably before short-circuiting and exploding into darkness.

A proud dog-like creature with blue and yellow fur landed on the ground in front of the group, glaring down the Heartless with fierce red eyes.

The surviving Armored Knights took cautious steps forward, recognizing the newcomer as a high threat.

The dog growled, fur sparking with electricity before a vicious roar ripped from its mouth and cut across the air.

The Heartless staggered, and a few even stepped back in alarm. The dog took the opportunity to let loose another powerful blast of electricity, tearing apart the last of the Knights.

Sora's mouth dropped from the pure power of the attack. It was as strong as a Thundaga spell!

The dog shook of its fur, the static dissipating. It turned and looked towards the group, analyzing each of their faces before it faced Cyndaquil.

The fire mouse took a step back, obviously uncomfortable. But Sora could understand why; when you were so much smaller than such a proud-looking creature, it could be intimidating.

"Mane, manectric man," the dog said.

Cyndaquil seemed to perk up. "Cynda, cyn, cyndaquil."

"Man, manec."

"Quil, cynda."

The dog nodded its head and turned to look back at the others. "Manectric," it said before turning and hurrying down the street.

Cyndaquil hurried after it on all fours, glancing back and pausing. "Cynda!"

"What's going on?" Donald asked.

"I think he wants us to follow," Riku replied.

Taking a moment to exchange confused glances, the group hurried after the fire mouse.

* * *

"Hm?" The green-eyed brunette turned around when she heard the sound of hurried footsteps behind her. Aerith tilted her head when she saw Manectric. "What's wrong?"

"Mane, mane," the lightning-creature replied, looking back at the way he came.

Coming up the stairs that led to the marketplace, a little creature with a long snout came running up the steps.

"Oh?" Aerith kneeled down when the tiny animal ran over to her. "Who are you?"

"Cyndaquil!" The mouse replied. "Cynda, cyn!" He pointed his paw towards the stairs. A few moments later, the people that were supposed to be accompanying him appeared.

Aerith gave a small gasp. "Sora! Donald! Goofy!"

"Aerith!" The group ran over to greet the flower girl.

"Oh, it's good to see you all again," Aerith said with a smile. She paused. "Kairi, is that you?"

The auburn-haired girl grinned. "Yeah, it's been way too long!"

Aerith nodded and turned to look at the only unfamiliar face in the group. "… And you must be Riku."

The silver-haired teen gave a nod. "Aerith, right? It's nice to meet you."

"Same here."

Cyndaquil ran over to Kairi, giving a quiet squeak before she picked him up. "Cyndaquil, cynda!"

"Is that a pokémon you've befriended?" Aerith inquired when she saw the fire mouse perch himself onto Kairi's shoulder.

"… Pokémon?" Kairi repeated. "Is that what they're called?"

Aerith nodded, scratching Manectric on the back of the head. "Many of them have appeared here, having arrived with the meteor shower a few days ago. With them came the human citizens of their world, and they call themselves pokémon trainers."

"Pokémon… trainers?"

Seeing the confused faces, Aerith smiled. "Perhaps we should get one of them to explain this to you… but in the meantime, why don't we head to Merlin's house?"

"Great idea," Donald said.

Riku crossed his arms. "Yeah, I mean, that was where we were going to go anyway, but _Sora_ seemed to forget how to get there."

"Hey!"

* * *

"Wow guys, you got here sooner than we expected!" Yuffie bounded up to the group when they entered through the door.

Cid turned around in his chair to face everyone. "Hey guys, long time no see."

"Hey Yuffie, hey Cid!"

"You're all looking great! And Kairi, you've grown up so much since the last time I saw you!"

Kairi laughed, brushing a bit of hair out of her face. "Thanks!"

"And you're Riku, right? Sora's told us so much about you! It's great that you're back!"

"Err… thanks…?"

Yuffie's eyes then narrowed in on the fire mouse perched on Kairi's shoulder. "It's a cute little thing!" She grabbed Cyndaquil and began hugging him before anyone could do anything about it.

"Qui-il…!" Cyndaquil squeaked, as the ninja hugged him to death.

Aerith sighed, though a weak smile graced her face. "Again, Yuffie? First the Teddiursa, and now Cyndaquil?"

"Cyndaquil, eh?" Yuffie paused, holding out the fire mouse at arms length and examining him.

"Cynda, cyn…"

The ninja turned to look at the mechanic sitting at the computer. "… Hey Cid, do you still have that collar that was supposed to be for that cat that disappeared?"

"Yeah, yeah, hold your horses." Cid rummaged around through a drawer before pulling out a small mechanical collar and tossing it to Yuffie.

Catching it, Yuffie gave an exclamation of thanks. "Now, just need to put this on and… Ta-da!"

Cyndaquil pawed at the metal collar. It wasn't uncomfortable or heavy, but it just felt different to have something around his neck. "What's this for?"

Everyone, aside from Yuffie, Cid and Aerith, gasped.

"Cyndaquil just spoke?!"

"I just spoke?!"

"Yep!" Yuffie said, handing Cyndaquil over to Sora. "See, there was this cat that I saw the other day. It was absolutely adorable, but I couldn't understand a thing it said. And then I had this idea to have Cid make a collar for it so I _could_ understand!"

"Even with Yuffie's whining, it wasn't too much of a problem with that Tory kid helping," Cid added. "He knows a lot about pokémon and machines. Helpful kid. It's made out of the same stuff those pokédexes are made out of, so they're resistant to pretty much anything you can throw at it."

"But the cat disappeared by the time it was finished," Yuffie muttered, continuing on as if Cid didn't say a word. "I wonder where it went…"

"The collar was too small for Manectric," Aerith said, patting the discharge pokémon on the head. "So we couldn't use it for him. It's just a good thing that Cyndaquil's the right size. It makes understanding him a lot easier, right?"

"Definitely!" Sora cried, holding the fire mouse up. "Wow, we can finally understand you! Awesome!"

"Sure, I guess," Cyndaquil chirped. "Yeah, this is pretty cool…!"

"Garwsh, maybe we should get one of those for Chuka," Goofy whispered to Donald.

The duck promptly stomped his foot on the ground. "That little rat?! She blew a raspberry at my face over the communication screen!"

Aerith sighed, picking up a few books off of one of many wooden chairs at a large circular table and moving it to the side. "Maybe we should proceed to explaining more about these pokémon."

"Err, right!" Everyone, including Yuffie and Aerith, took seats on the chair as Cyndaquil sat on the table by Kairi. Manectric sat on the ground next to Yuffie's chair, holding his head high.

"Now, where should we start?" Yuffie asked, glancing to her friend and resting her elbow on the table.

Before Aerith could answer, a new voice came from the door, cool and calm with just a hint of amusement.

"Who decided to start a party here without me?"

Startled, everyone turned around. Brown hair, blue eyes, scar on his face and a leather jacket?

"Leon!"

* * *

Killing several pidgey with one stone (rather, chapter) it seems. We have the group at RG, brought in the committee, introduced a pokemon character, and solved Cyndaquil's communication problem.

Yep. That's the same Tory from Pokemon the Movie 8: Destiny Deoxys. Any ideas on who the rather nervous guy that asked him for directions was? He's a Kingdom Hearts character... sort of...

Since I have Chapter 5 written up for the most part, anyone who reviews this chapter will get a preview of it!

Next chapter will be out in a week or two! See you guys then!

Review...!


	6. Chapter 5

Chapter 5, finally! Sorry for the delay; I've been kind of out of it recently, kind of off. I've had this chapter done for a while, but for some reason I couldn't really find it in myself to kick it in gear and post it up.

So I sent the people who reviewed the chapter last time a preview, though there was an anonymous reviewer... (AKA one without an account) so I couldn't really send a preview to them... yeah...

Anyway, let's just hurry up to the chapter, yes?

"Speech."

_'Thoughts.'_

**"Translated pokémon speech."**

* * *

**Storm of Fire**

**Chapter 5**

* * *

"How's everything going?" Sora asked, excited to see his friend. "Aerith said that the town is getting closer and closer to what it was before the Heartless came!"

Leon nodded. "Closer by the day… We'll reclaim the title of 'garden' soon, though the soil here isn't as fertile as we'd like it to be. It's difficult to keep the flora alive and growing." Walking over to the table, he greeted everyone. "Riku, I presume."

"Yeah. I've heard a lot about you."

"Likewise." Leon looked down at the pokémon sitting by Kairi. "Another one?"

"M-my name's Cyndaquil…!" The fire mouse chirped somewhat shyly.

"Huh… looks like we've found a use for that collar after all." Glancing over to Cid, Leon added, "It would be a good idea to make more of them."

"I'm already working on it," Cid said, typing in a few numbers on the computer. "New and improved versions, less bulky. That one's only the demo version anyway."

"So, Squall, how's everything going in town?" Yuffie asked.

Mumbling something under his breath that sounded an awful lot like "It's Leon…", Leon replied, "Same as usual. Heartless, occasionally Nobodies, and a bunch of tourists who're amazed at how different this world is from theirs."

"Tourists?" Goofy asked, scratching his head. "Like, people here on vacation?"

Aerith nodded. "Not long after you three left, people began to came. With the barrier around the worlds broken and travelers spreading the method of Gummi Ship making around, tourism has increased drastically."

"They have this new company where all these ships come by, dropping off paying customers. Almost like trains, I guess," Yuffie added. "And Radiant Garden is the center of all ports! Well, here, Twilight Town and Traverse Town."

"So that's why the streets were so crowded," Donald concluded.

"Exactly."

"I wonder why one hasn't been set up at Destiny Islands yet," Sora wondered aloud. "We would've heard about it, right?"

"I think one of the drivers said that one was going to open in Destiny Islands in the next month or so," Yuffie said. "So it'll be easy to get back to your home!"

"Great!" Kairi exclaimed. "That means we might even see Selphie, Wakka, and Tidus around here!"

"Let's hope they stay safe if we do," Riku commented.

"Oh, I wouldn't worry about them," Goofy said. "We ran into a girl named Selphie back there, didn't we Donald?"

The duck nodded. "Yep! She had one of those… pokémon creatures with her. And we already know they have natural fighting talents and can help fight Heartless and Nobodies."

"Why is that?" Sora asked. "They can fight and they have those special powers…"

"That's because we're pokémon," Cyndaquil said, the attention turning to him. Suddenly feeling uncomfortable, he continued, "Uh… and, well… Sometimes humans catch us in those… poké ball things… like the one Kairi found me in."

"Oh, this?" Kairi pulled out Cyndaquil's poké ball from her pocket. It was the size of a ping-pong ball, but she enlarged it to the size of a softball. "Is that what it's called? A poké ball?"

Cyndaquil nodded. "Yeah… When a human catches us, they become our 'trainers' as they call it. And us pokémon battle other pokémon to get stronger and earn badges for our trainers."

"Fight?" Riku asked, surprised. "They make you fight against others?"

"It's not like dog fighting," Aerith cut in. "It's more like a friendly match of to test their strength. They fight until the other can't fight anymore, but they don't try to kill each other."

"Right!" Cyndaquil said. "Pokémon are built for friendly matches. And there are a bunch of us too, all different types. Oh, and some of us can evolve."

"Evolve?"

"That's the thing Tory mentioned, right?" Yuffie asked, turning to look at Leon.

The brunet nodded. "Apparently, after a pokémon reaches a certain level of strength and experience, they have the opportunity to evolve. If they wish to, that is. There are cases where pokémon refuse to evolve."

"When they evolve, they change shape, color, and get stronger!" Yuffie chirped. "See Manectric here? Just a few days ago he was this little green puppy-thing called an electrike. After a fight with the Heartless, he glowed and turned into this!"

Manectric barked, a smirk crossing his face.

"Weird…" Sora muttered. "And all of these pokémon came from the same world?"

"Our home was big," Cyndaquil said. "All these different regions where trainers explored. Different pokémon, different people, different battles."

"No wonder everyone was scattered across the worlds instead of just landing in Traverse Town like usual," Riku muttered. "I don't think everyone would be able to fit if they went to Traverse Town."

"This is a lot to take in," Kairi commented, scratching her head. "Not to mention we already figured out that pokémon have different powers, some of them kind of like magic… Oh!" Remembering one of the reasons she came along in the first place, she looked at Leon, Yuffie and Aerith. "Do you guys know where Merlin is? I want to ask if he could help me practice my spells."

"He went out earlier," Yuffie replied. "He should be back in by tomorrow."

"Okay."

"In the meantime, are you guys hungry or what?" The ninja stood up out of her seat. "It's almost dinner time, and we have a lot of mouths to feed now!"

"We have a lot of refugees who're volunteering to help the town," Aerith said. "Anyway, I'll help prepare the meal. Just sit back and relax, and we'll arrange places for you guys to stay while you're here."

"Thanks Aerith!"

The flower girl smile as she stood up. "It's no problem."

* * *

The dinner table was insane with all the extra people staying over the night. People had to stand around with their plates and bring in extra chairs.

"So our next goal is rebuilding the school," Leon explained, standing up while slowly eating his plate of food. "Many children here haven't had a decent education yet."

"Who'd the teachers be?" Kairi asked.

"Aerith volunteered to be one of the teachers," Yuffie replied. "Meanwhile in my downtime, I'm going to help teach the little runts a thing or two about self defense! We can't have untrained kids running around the town alone when Heartless might show up!"

"Good thinking," Sora said. "Especially with all the tourists coming around, it's a good idea to make sure at least the residents here can help out in case something goes wrong."

"Oh, Cid, I almost forgot about this," Goofy said, walking over to the blond man and pulling out the red device from his pocket. "We found this at Disney Castle when the pokémon appeared."

"Oh yeah, that's one of those pokédexes." Cid took the pokédex and opened it up. "… Huh, it doesn't look like it hasn't even been used and registered yet. Hold on." He pulled a wire out from behind the computer and plugged it into the pokédex. The screen flashed a loading sign. Typing in a few things on the keyboard, the loading process finished and Cid unplugged it.

"What did you do just now?" Donald asked.

"See, these pokédexes are supposed to be registered with pokémon trainers," Cid explained. "They're like electronic encyclopedias with information on most, if not all pokémon. Watch." He pointed the pokédex at Cyndaquil, who was conversing with Manectric.

The screen on the pokédex flashed a default picture of a cyndaquil, and a female voice spoke. "_Cyndaquil, the fire mouse pokémon. Although usually mild and timid, if it becomes startled or angry cyndaquil will shoot a scorching flame from its back._" Other things flashed on the screen, including type, weight, height, and gender.

"That's pretty cool," Sora said, walking over and taking the pokédex from Cid.

"It required registration, so it's registered in your name," Cid said, "Use it whenever you run into some unfamiliar pokémon."

"Thanks Cid!" Sora hurried over to Cyndaquil and Manectric and pointed the pokédex at the dog out of pure curiosity.

"_Manectric, the discharge pokémon and the evolved form of electrike. Manectric are known to discharge electricity from their manes and make their nests in places where lightning has struck._"

"Cool," Sora muttered.

"Manectric helps to power the city," Leon said. "We have different generators all over town and up in the castle, and the electric pokémon help lend us their power from time to time."

"Speaking of electric-types, does anyone know where Tory is?" Yuffie glanced up at the clock on the wall that read 8:30. "It's about time the kid gets back."

As if a certain cue was signaled, the front door opened. "Sorry I'm late guys, but we just finished setting up the roof." A silvery-blue haired boy with light blue eyes walked in, two rodent-like pokémon perched on his shoulders. He paused when he saw the new faces. "W-who are you guys?"

"These are the people that we said were coming today," Leon replied.

Sora straightened up and pocketed the pokédex. "I'm Sora, and this is Kairi, Riku, Donald, Goofy… and Cyndaquil."

"I'm Tory," the boy said quietly. "And this is Plusle and Minun."

"Plu, plu!"

"Min, min!"

The two mouse-rabbits hopped off of the boy's shoulder and hurried over to meet the new pokémon.

"So Tory, are you one of those pokémon trainers we've heard about?" Sora inquired with the slightest tilt of his head.

"Sort of," Tory replied. "I'm not a real trainer, though I was planning to be one. Plusle and Minun have been my best friends since a couple years ago. We were actually supposed to head out to register about a week and a half ago, but a storm hit. It was a really bad one and cut the power at our home. The next thing I knew, we were here."

"Wait…" Riku said slowly. "How long have you been here for?"

"About five days," Tory said. "Only me, Plusle, Minun, and a few others were here at first… but in the days that followed, more and more pokémon and trainers showed up."

"Does that mean that the survivors didn't all come here at once?" Goofy asked. "The meteor shower was only… three days ago."

"That was when I came," Cyndaquil piped up, climbing onto the table to get a good look at everyone.

"Well… the world was big," Riku said, trying to figure out a good explanation. "Maybe everything happened gradually because of it, one place at a time."

"That sounds reasonable," Kairi commented.

Donald crossed his arms. "It looks like we have to do a little more research about this stuff."

Yuffie yawned suddenly, startling everyone as she got up out of her chair. "Well, as you kiddies talk this stuff out, I'm going to go on the evening patrol." She walked over to the door but paused. "Unless you want me to show you guys where you're staying now… so you can put all of your things there."

"Sounds like a good idea," Sora said. "Let's go."

As the group got up and headed out the door, Kairi picked Cyndaquil off of the table. "It was nice to meet you, Tory," she said politely with a smile.

"Err, y-yeah…" Tory glanced to the side and scratched his cheek nervously. "It was nice to meet you too…!"

As Kairi left the house, Yuffie giggled with her hand on the doorknob. "Tory's got a cru-ush!" She sang.

"Yuffie, s-shut up!"

* * *

"Whoa, sweet!" Sora peeked his head through the door and looked around. Apparently, they had a house that they had to share. Two floors, a kitchen, two bathrooms, three bedrooms and a living room.

"This place is great!" Kairi said, peering through the door to the kitchen. "Thanks, Yuffie."

"No problem!" Yuffie replied. "This was an empty house anyway. Now, seeing as you guys have your own kitchen now, you have to make your own food. Sometimes we'll have lunch and dinner at Merlin's though. Figure out who's sleeping where, and I'll be off! G'bye!"

"See you later, Yuffie!"

"So, I guess we'll split the rooms up…" Sora scratched the back of his head. "I guess I'll room with Riku…"

"Ahyuck, and I'll room with Donald then," Goofy said.

"Then Cyndaquil's with me!" Kairi chirped, looking down at the fire mouse in her arms. "Come on, let's pick out our room!"

"Okay!"

All the bedrooms were on the second floor, and Kairi led the way up the stairs. Riku noticed how carefully the railing was carved to resemble vines, and polished to give it a pleasant shine.

"This is a really nice house," the silver-haired teen commented as they stepped up into the hall. "Let's not break anything, okay guys?"

"Oh, come on Riku, like we're going to break anything!" Just as Sora said that Goofy accidentally bumped into a table with a vase on it, and Donald dove to catch it before it fell to the ground and shattered.

"Oops, sorry."

"Goofy, be more careful!"

"My point," Riku said with a smirk.

"Oh, guys, I'm going to take this room, alright?" Kairi pulled her head out of the room at the end of the hall.

"Go for it!" Sora replied.

"Great! We get the balcony, Cyndaquil!"

"Cool!"

_

* * *

_

Tick-tock, tick-tock, tick-tock!

Cyndaquil gave a sigh and rolled over on the soft, comfortable pillow in a basket next to Kairi's bed. He was having a hard time sleeping. _'I wonder how Totodile and Bayleef are doing…'_ He thought. _'I doubt those two could be taken down that easily. Same with all of the other pokémon; Ash trained us to do the best we can do, and we just keep trying to get stronger. It's not like we'd be taken down that easily.'_

The fire mouse squirmed a bit to get a good look at the digital clock on the table. It read 5:30. Had he really been awake for hours and hours on end? Tip-toeing and peering over at the auburn-haired girl lying down on the bed, Cyndaquil was satisfied to see her sleeping. _'I think I'm going to go downstairs. There's nothing to do here, and I'd probably wake up Kairi.'_

Cyndaquil quietly walked over to the door and unlocked the small animal flap near the bottom. It was great that most of the doors in the house had flaps like this for creatures as small as him.

Crawling through the flap, Cyndaquil hurried down the hall and made his way down the stairs. He was surprised, however, to see a certain spiky-haired brunet buckling his shoes at the front door. "Sora?"

Said boy jumped up in surprise. He turned around and relaxed. "Oh, Cyndaquil. What're you doing up?"

"I couldn't sleep," the fire mouse replied. "What about you? Where are you going?"

"Oh, I couldn't sleep either," Sora said. "So I'm going to go and explore town. Do you want to come?"

"Sure!"

"Alright! Let me write a note really quickly." Sora grabbed a post-it pad and pen, scribbling down something in a messy scrawl and taping it to the wall. "Okay. Are you ready?"

"Yup!"

"Great!" Sora kneeled down and held out his arm to let Cyndaquil perch himself on the brunet's shoulder. "Let's go." Closing the door behind then and making sure it was locked, they started down the street.

The sky was still dark, the sun only just beginning to tint it red with the soon-to-arrive sunrise. The street lamps were still on, and only a few other people were wandering around this early.

The same couldn't be said for the pokémon, though. There were multiple types of birds resting on rooftops and telephone pole wires, cats walking by at the edge of the streets, and other stranger creatures just hanging around.

Sora pulled out his pokédex and checked the information on everything, trying to remember anything and everything about the pokémon.

"Oh, and that's a rattata," Cyndaquil said, pointing his paw at a purple mouse nibbling on a piece of fruit. "There were a lot where I lived. Oh! And that's a do… um… doduo… I think. Their heads have minds of their own, and they even get in fights sometimes!"

Sora nodded, gathering the information on his pokédex. "… You know, it's kind of weird understanding you now. I mean, after not being able to understand you at all for a few days."

"It kind of is," Cyndaquil agreed. "Normally people don't understand us at all. Some humans understand us, and some pokémon learn to speak human…"

"What was your home like?" Sora inquired.

"Oh… well…" Cyndaquil paused. "… Well I used to live in this forest… it was nice, I guess, but kind of boring unless the trainers came. There were a lot of us cyndaquil there, but a lot of them got captured. And then my trainer caught me, and I just traveled around the region. There were all these cool pokémon and cool places."

"It sounds great," Sora said. "Your world seems really big."

"It is." Cyndaquil recalled one time when he was in Professor Oak's laboratory. There were all these maps on the wall of different places. There was Kanto, Ash's home region, and Johto, Cyndaquil's home. And there were other places like Hoenn, Sinnoh, and some places he didn't even know the names of.

"Hmm… I guess some worlds are bigger than others." Sora took a moment to read a street sign before turning down the road.

A frown crossed Cyndaquil's face. "… Hey Sora?"

"Yeah?"

"Can you tell me more about worlds? I don't really understand…"

Sora scratched the back of his head. "Hmm… well…" Looking up at the sky, he said, "You can't see them right now, but they say that every star is a world. When a world is swallowed by the darkness, the star goes out. The worlds are separated, and have been for who knows how long… but one day, they started to become connected."

"Is that why you had to go on your journey with that key-thing?"

"Keyblade," Sora corrected with a laugh. "And yeah. When the darkness hit our world, I got the Keyblade."

"That's cool." Cyndaquil tilted his head as he thought. _'Maybe it's because of this darkness that people can use magic… They don't have pokémon to help them, so they develop powers like ours to protect themselves from it.'_

"Anyway…" Sora took a deep breath and a grin crossed his face. "I'm beginning to get hungry. Up for some breakfast?"

"Sure!"

The duo headed towards the marketplace, where vendors and newly opened restaurants would be just opening for the early birds.

"So, what do you feel like eating?" Sora asked as the delicious smells of baking bread, cooking eggs and frying bacon wafted through the air and made their mouths water.

"Toast," Cyndaquil stated easily. Bread was one of the best foods in the world. It was flexible and could go with a lot of things, but it was also great on its own. And it tasted great when it was scorched ever so slightly… at least to a fire-type, anyway.

"Got it!"

After buying breakfast from a nearby stall, Sora and Cyndaquil sat down on a bench at the edge of the marketplace to eat.

"… Sora?"

The brunet took a bite out of his waffle cone. "Hmm?"

Cyndaquil nibbled on his toast before continuing. "What're Heartless? They're really creepy looking… and they have big yellow eyes, right?"

"Yeah…" Sora leaned back and looked at the sky. Already it must have been after six. "… Well… Every living creature is supposed to have a heart. Humans, animals, and pokémon too, I'm guessing. In a heart, there's light and darkness… and when a person succumbs to the darkness in their heart or gets it stolen from them by the Heartless, they become Heartless themselves."

"That's complicated…" Cyndaquil scratched his head. "So… Heartless take people hearts…"

Sora nodded. "Uh-huh… There are some Heartless, called emblem Heartless because they have this emblem on their body, that release hearts when they're defeated with the Keyblade. They fear the Keyblade so much that they come after us to try and stop us."

"What about those Heartless without emblems?" Cyndaquil asked, recalling the ant-like creatures that attacked their world.

"Those are purebloods," Sora explained. "They don't release hearts; they just fade back to the darkness. Do you remember the giant one that attacked us back on Destiny Islands?"

"Oh…!" Cyndaquil jumped up, indeed remembering. "Sora, that wasn't a regular Heartless! That was a pokémon! Or… it used to be one, anyway…"

"Are you serious?" Sora looked surprised.

Cyndaquil nodded his head vigorously. "It used attacks like razor leaf and solarbeam! Those are attacks that grass-type pokémon learn."

"Grass-type?" Sora reached into his pocket and pulled out the pokédex. He had probably been playing with it for a while, because after pressing a few buttons he came up with some data. "Grass-types… weak against fire, ice, bug, and flying… That's why Fire magic was so strong against it! Cyndaquil, do you know what kind of pokémon it was?"

The fire mouse shook his head. "No… I've never seen one like that before."

A thoughtful look crossed Sora's face. "Huh…" He pressed a few more buttons and began a search for a pokémon that fit the description of the Heartless.

Cyndaquil swallowed the last of his toast. _'This is really confusing… What mess have I gotten myself into? Creatures from the darkness that steal hearts, humans wielding magic and giant keys… I wanted an adventure, but not one like this…!'_

"A-AHH!"

The fire mouse's head snapped up at the sound of the scream. "Someone's in trouble!" He immediately jumped off of the bench and ran down the street.

"Hey—Cyndaquil—wait!" Sora pocketed his pokédex and began sprinting after the fire-type.

* * *

"S-s-s-someone help!" The dirty-blond was cornered, backed up against a brick wall as three black wolf-like creatures stared him down.

Their lips were pulled back to reveal their sharp canines. They looked like they could rip flesh off of bone.

'_Pokémon!'_ Cyndaquil thought when he came across the scene. Very angry and hungry ones by the sound of it. "Swift!" He exclaimed, shooting a blast of golden stars at the dogs.

The attack barely did any damage, but it forced the wolves to turn around and glare at the fire mouse.

The biggest one, presumably the leader, barked and growled. The other two wolf-dogs ran forward and aimed to clamp their sharp teeth onto something.

Cyndaquil rolled out of the way moments before the wolves snapped their jaws shut, and jumped up. "Flamethrower!" He exclaimed. The fire on his back flickered, and only a wisp escaped his mouth. "Huh?! Not again!"

The leader slammed his tail, glowing a silvery-metallic color, into Cyndaquil's back, and with a loud crash the fire mouse smashed through the cement.

"O-ow…" Cyndaquil groaned, struggling to get back to his feet. He looked up at the wolves and craned his neck, finding himself surrounded. "… Grr…"

The leader barked more orders, and the other two wolves dashed forward with their lips pulled back and a fierce look glittering in their eyes.

Suddenly, several pillars of water shot up from the ground and sent the two subordinate wolves flying into the air, over a building and into an alley.

The leader blinked, taking a step back and looking for the source of the water.

With the sound of someone strumming a stringed instrument, the last wolf was sent flying into the air was another fountain of water, off to join its crew.

Cyndaquil stared at the dirty-blond haired boy with a strange expression. Did he… did he just blast that pokémon with that… thing?

A human instrument of sorts, blue in color with three strings. It looked big and heavy, and it had a weird shape to it. What was it? Did it control water?

The water-user approached Cyndaquil and kneeled down. "Um… You alright…?"

"Pain…" The fire mouse squeaked. That tail attack didn't feel like a super-effective one, but it still hurt like crazy; it got him when his defenses were down. Critical hit? Perhaps.

The boy picked up Cyndaquil with one hand while he left an arm propped up on his giant blue instrument. "Don't worry little buddy… um… you're still talking, right?"

"… Not… making me feel any better…"

Scratching his head, the dirty-blond was about to open his mouth to speak. He was cut off, however, when shouting ripped through the air.

"Cyndaquil? Cyndaquil! Cynda—!" Sora stopped immediately when he came upon the boy in front of him. "…" His eyes widened in recognition.

"G-gah! You!" The strange boy jumped back, still holding the fire mouse in his arm.

The Keyblade flashed to Sora's hand, and he took a battle stance. A strange shine glittered in his eyes. "What are you doing here? I thought we took you down months ago!"

Cyndaquil blinked. Was his eyes working properly? Or did he just imagine a spiky-haired blond with the same blue eyes take the place of Sora, just for a moment?

"You did! But that wasn't really me, see? I'm…"

"That wimp we defeated! Demyx! And now you're trying to kidnap Cyndaquil?"

"No, no, no! It's nothing like that!" The water-user took another step back. His green eyes were wide with fear. Cyndaquil didn't understand why this boy was scared of Sora, or why Sora was so angry. He wanted to shout some sense into the brunet, but he barely had the strength to even squeak.

"If you're not trying to kidnap Cyndaquil, then you'd better tell me what you're up to here!"

"Calm down, Sora…" Cyndaquil finally spoke up when he saw the seriousness in the brunet's eyes. "I helped him because pokémon were attacking him… and he helped me when they turned on me…"

Sora blinked, lowering his Keyblade ever so slightly. "… Really?"

"Really!" The water-user exclaimed, letting go of his sitar. "This little guy got hurt during the fight, and I was going to go and find some help!"

"Let me see him," Sora said, his blade disappearing in a flash of light. He took Cyndaquil from the water-user and tried a Cure. "Feeling better?" He asked as the green light and flower petals faded.

"A little…" Cyndaquil mumbled. "Your weird healing magic doesn't work on us that well."

"But you're feeling better, right?"

"Uh-huh!"

The water-user, scratched the back of his head before slowly edging away. "Well, seeing as the little fire buddy's all better now, I'm going to go now… bye!" He made a run for it, but was stopped when Sora stuck a hand out and grabbed him by the back of his shirt.

"You're not going anywhere until you explain why you're still alive, Demyx!"

The boy cringed. "Alright, alright! But first, the name's _Myde_! I'm no Nobody anymore!"

Sora stared. "… Not… a Nobody?" He looked genuinely confused as he glanced at the sitar. "But…"

A loud howling followed by a series of barks caused Myde to jump. "N-no time to explain here! Those things are coming back! Man, I don't wanna become dog food!" Quickly taking a look around, he exclaimed, "Follow me!" And then he began running.

Sora scratched the back of his head and glanced down at Cyndaquil. "… He really is a kook."

"I sort of guessed that…"

* * *

MYDE! :D Hope you guys don't mind me bringing a somebody in... The Organization was freakin' awesome, after all. And as more information on Birth By Sleep comes out, it might turn out that Demyx's other had a different name (I mean, they officially revealed Saix's other's name already. And the character design for Braig, Dilan, Even, Aeleus, Ienzo, along with Axel and Saix's others.) Even if Myde turns out to be an incorrect name, I'm keeping it. I like it this way.

Yeah... again, sorry for the delay. I can't say when the next chapter will be out, but it'll be soon... hopefully.

Reveiw!


	7. Chapter 6

Hey guys, it's been a while since I last updated. Sorry about that. When I realized how long it was since I updated, I typed out the rest of Chapter 6... but it's kind of short compared to the other chapters. Oh well, there'll be more stuff (more action!) in the next chapter, I swear.

Oh, and someone asked if I was really 14. Actually, I'm 15. The day that the anonymous reviewer asked me that question was a couple months after my birthday.

Moving on.

"Speech."

_'Thoughts.'_

**"Translated pokémon speech."**

* * *

**Storm of Fire**

**Chapter 6**

* * *

The wolves rushed down the street with barely a sound, their ruby-red eyes scanning the streets for their escaped target.

Myde gave a sigh of relief and plopped down on one of the café chairs when the pokémon rushed by outside. "Those things missed us completely…" He stretched out, and when a waitress walked by he held a hand up. "Excuse me, can I get a coffee?"

"Sure!" The woman chirped happily, hurrying to place the order.

"Mind telling us why you're here?" Sora asked, sitting down at the table. He seemed to be a lot calmer, Cyndaquil noticed. It was a bit odd, but there seemed to be a different light in his ocean-blue eyes.

Myde tapped his foot on the ground a few times before looking out the window. "I came here because I was wondering if the others might be here too… Braig, Ienzo, Rould… Heck, maybe even Erelan. Actually, no, scratch that. I'd rather _not_ meet her again." He shivered at the thought.

"Why?" Sora asked.

The water-user shrugged. "I have a heart now, but for some reason I still remember what it was like when I was Demyx…" He sighed. "It's kind of crazy, but I almost _miss_ some of them… I want to know if they remember what it was like to be a Nobody too."

Sora frowned. "How did you get your heart back? I thought we defeated you."

"Well… I don't know." Myde crossed his arms and leaned back. "After I was defeated, I woke up in Traverse Town. It was where I wound up when my world got hit, and it was the place where I… lost my heart. I was different, though. Back to how I was before, emotions and everything. But I could still manipulate water and all that… I just have to lug around my weapon with me now." He indicated the blue sitar leaning against the café wall next to him. It had straps, upon closer inspection; probably used to carry on the owner's back.

"So you really don't know?"

Myde shook his head. "Nope… That's another reason I came here. I wanted to see if the ol' apprentices knew…" He paused as something occurred to him. "Hey, have you seen them?"

Sora shook his head. "I haven't seen anyone that looked like them…"

Cyndaquil tilted his head. "Wait, I'm confused… Nobodies? What're they?"

"They're what happens sometimes when a person with a strong heart is swallowed by the darkness," Sora explained. "Their body is left behind and begins to act on its own. A few months ago we had a problem with a group called Organization XIII, and this guy over here," he nodded at Myde, "was one of the members."

"Don't blame me, we just wanted our hearts back," Myde replied with a small frown—almost a pout. "Or at least I did. I'm not sure about Larxene and Marluxia… Even Xemnas I was kind of doubtful."

"Yeah, I know," Sora mumbled. "It took a while, but I kind of realized you guys weren't entirely evil… At least you got your heart finally…" Something suddenly occurred to him, and he stood up in his seat. "Does that mean Axel might be alive somewhere?"

Myde blinked in surprise. "Axel? You mean Lea?" He furrowed his eyebrows in confusion. "I dunno, maybe. Why are you so concerned about… unless… Huh. He really is in your head."

"Who's he?" Cyndaquil asked. This was all so complicated and confusing—it was making his head hurt! "And Axel? And Xemnas, and Ma… Mar… luxia…?"

"Axel, Xemnas and Marluxia were others in Organization XIII. Well, Xemnas was kind of our leader. Intimidating at that." Myde patted Cyndaquil on the top of his head, and thanked the waitress when she returned with his coffee. Taking a sip, he added, "And the 'he' I'm talking about is Roxas… Sora's Nobody."

"Sora has a Nobody?!" Cyndaquil squeaked. "But… does that mean he had his heart…?"

"It must have been a couple years ago…" Sora suddenly stated, a distant look crossing his face. "… It was to help Kairi…" He shook his head with a grin. "But it's all good now!"

Cyndaquil put a paw to his mouth as he stared at Sora. He seemed to be avoiding the whole story… but the fire mouse wouldn't pry.

* * *

The trio left the café sometime later. It must have been almost eight by now. Cyndaquil was surprised that Sora seemed to get along so well with Myde, despite the hostility between them (more so on Sora's side) when they first saw each other. Myde suspected that it had something to do with Roxas, but Cyndaquil didn't understand what he meant.

The streets were full of people now; residents, tourists, pokémon… it was lively.

"… So then this giant Heartless came and busted down the front door!" Sora exclaimed as he told the story of the attack that happened a few nights prior. "Riku came by and we held it off until Kairi arrived. We were so surprised when Cyndaquil ran in—we didn't even know what he was at first! But he helped us kick some major Heartless butt!"

"That's some story," Myde commented. "You can't judge anyone by their appearance, right Fire Buddy?"

Cyndaquil scratched his head, a bit embarrassed. "Yeah, I guess…" Pausing, a thought occurred to him. "Hey, Myde… you went to a couple different worlds before coming here, right?"

"Huh? Oh, yeah. Sites and stuff on the way. I was surprised to see so many… pokémon around."

"Did you see a boy with black hair and a cap?" Cyndaquil asked. "Maybe with a pikachu? His name is Ash. He's my trainer, but I don't know what happened to him…"

A thud from behind the three caused them to turn around. A brunette with a painter's beret had a surprised expression on her face and several fallen bags at her feet.

"Are you okay?" Myde asked.

The girl shook her head and took a step back before silently running down the street.

"… What's up with her?" Sora asked with a confused tilt of the head.

Cyndaquil stared at the place where the girl had disappeared to. "… She… wait…" Something about her was familiar, but he couldn't quite place a paw on it.

"Well… I guess we should head back to Merlin's house," Sora said. "They'll be shocked to see you alive and kicking, Myde."

"Hahah… Yeah, I guess they will be…" Myde scratched the back of his head. "… Oh boy."

* * *

"… and see, the next goal people want is getting a television signal that runs across the different worlds," Cid said, tapping away on his computer. "That way things going on in one place can show in another. It's a good idea, all things considered, but implementing it will be difficult."

"Where are we going to try first?" Tory asked, Plusle and Minun watching Cid's work on the computer intently.

"We'll try Traverse Town first," Cid replied. "The people there need help often because of the Heartless, so having at least a news station we can see would do them a lot of good. Do you think you're up to the task, Tory?"

The silver-blue haired boy nodded. "We're up to it, right guys?"

"Plu!"

"Min!"

"Good. You should leave as soon as possible… but it would be a good idea to have someone to come with you, just in case any Heartless attack…"

"We can go with him," Riku put in. "I'm sure Sora wouldn't mind going to Traverse Town. It's been a while since we've been there anyway."

"Great!"

"Where's Kairi?" Yuffie asked, looking around the room.

"She's training with Merlin," Riku replied. "Probably in the Great Maw."

"Oh, our little Kairi is growing up so quickly!" Yuffie giggled to herself. "Soon she'll be able to kick Heartless butt, no sweat!"

The door to the house opened suddenly.

"Hey guys!" Sora said, entering with Cyndaquil on his shoulder. A strange boy followed him, a nervous expression on his face.

"Who's that?" Tory asked.

"Hey, the name's Myde," the boy said with a little wave.

Riku stared at the boy, trying to figure out why he looked so familiar. Then he spotted the sitar strapped to his back. "…"

"Long story," Sora replied when he saw the confused expression on his friend's face. "I'll explain it later. Anyway, what's going on?"

"Not much. Cid's got a mission for us though," Riku said. "Are you up for a trip to Traverse Town?"

"Sure! It's been a while since I've been there. What're going there for?"

"Cid wants to install a television signal so we can see if anything bad happens there," Tory said. "And after Traverse Town, we have Twilight Town to go to. We're going to get all the main ports first."

"Twilight Town!" Sora grinned at the thought. "Definitely! Alright, you can definitely count me in!"

"I'll come too," Cyndaquil said quietly. "My friends might be there…"

"You guys will leave first thing tomorrow," Cid said. "So don't exhaust yourselves too much today."

"Right!"

* * *

The entire day was spent hanging around town. Myde had to explain his situation a couple time, and he even got to ask if anyone had seen the others.

"Sorry, no," Yuffie had said. "Haven't seen any of the apprentices anywhere."

"Aw… oh well. They'll show up sooner or later."

Kairi came back a few hours later, pumped from all her training, but at the same time exhausted. "Who knew magic could take so much energy out of you?"

"How's it coming along?" Sora asked.

"Great! I managed to do use Fire today; both kinds, the fire ball and the fire wheel."

"Great work, Kairi!" Sora grinned. "Oh, and tomorrow we have a mission to Traverse Town. Do you want to come?"

"Sure," Kairi said. "I'm up for it!"

When night fell, everyone gathered in Merlin's house for some dinner. It was as noisy as ever, what with Myde joining in and playing some music for entertainment. He wasn't that bad at playing, actually.

Sora, Kairi, Riku, Donald, Goofy, and Cyndaquil headed back to their temporary house for a good night's sleep.

"Since we're staying here to help guard Radiant Garden, no need to wake us up tomorrow," Goofy said.

"Right!" Sora said. "Well, good night everyone! Be ready to get up early in the morning!"

Closing the door behind them, Kairi sat on her bed and Cyndaquil crawled over to his basket. "Traverse Town," the auburn-haired girl said out loud. "Wow… I get to see all these worlds… it's exciting."

Cyndaquil nodded. "I wonder if any of my friends are there…"

"Maybe," Kairi said. "But even if they're not, don't give up hope! There are a lot of worlds out there, and they could have ended up on any of them… but they're not going to let Heartless beat them, right?"

Cyndaquil nodded again. "Yeah, Totodile isn't going to let himself get beaten down that easily. Neither would Bayleef. And Snorlax would probably just sit on anything that bothered him."

Kairi giggled. "See? They'll be alright… wait, what was that?"

"What was what?" Cyndaquil asked.

Kairi held up a finger as a sign for silence. She waited a few moments, and the soft sound echoed in the room again. It sounded like tapping on glass. Turning around, the auburn-haired girl walked over to the window and looked out. "I don't see anything… but it sounded like it was coming from here…" She unhooked the latch on the window and pushed it open to get a better look around. "… I still don't see—AH!" She fell backwards when a white and red head with golden eyes popped up in front of her face.

Cyndaquil was on his feet immediately, and he scrambled onto the bed to get a better look. "Hey, I know you…!"

The pokémon was some sort of white and red dragon-like creature. She had a blue triangle on her chest, wings on her back and fin-like feet. A trill rose in her throat when she spotted Cyndaquil.

"Latias!" Cyndaquil exclaimed.

"You know it?" Kairi asked, standing up and brushing off her pajama pants.

"I met her once in a place called Alto Mare," Cyndaquil replied. "It was a while ago though… Latias, this is my friend Kairi. How are you doing?"

Latias chirped again, a worried look crossing her eyes.

"She heard me talking about Ash today," Cyndaquil said. "She's worried about him too…"

"Your trainer?" Kairi asked, earning a nod in response.

Cyndaquil paused. "… So were you the girl in the plaza? Wait; are Bianca and her grandfather alright?"

Latias looked down at the ground before answering. Her voice was soft and sad.

"What did she say?" Kairi asked.

"Bianca is alright; she's staying in an apartment a few streets away," Cyndaquil said. "… but… oh. Her grandfather died a couple years ago…"

Kairi's eyes widened slightly. "I'm sorry."

Latias smiled sadly. She gave another trill and looked around.

"Oh, you could probably go over to Merlin's house with Bianca," Cyndaquil replied. "They help to keep the peace around here… They want to restore the city."

Latias nodded. She would tell Bianca when she returned to the apartment.

"Is that all you wanted to ask?"

Giving a nod, Latias backed away from the window. She smiled and waved, but before she took off flying an alarmed look crossed her face.

Suddenly, the building began to shake. It wasn't a giant tremor, but it was enough to knock Kairi off balance and onto the bed.

"Earthquake?" Cyndaquil asked, looking around. "What's going on?" As he said it, the shaking slowed to a stop.

Latias zipped off into the night as fast as possible; probably to check up on her friend.

"It's over," Kairi said. "… It wasn't that strong though. What caused it?"

"I'm not sure…" But somehow, Cyndaquil had a feeling that it wasn't natural.

* * *

The next morning, it seemed like everyone was talking about the earthquake. Apparently, those things rarely happened in Radiant Garden.

"It was probably nothing," Leon said when everyone met up in the Gummi Ship port. "Pokémon can learn an attack called earthquake. It was probably just that."

"Yeah, probably," Tory said. "Anyway… we should be back in a few days, maybe a week. We're going to hit Traverse Town and Twilight Town in one trip."

"Right. Be careful."

"We will, don't worry Leon!" Sora said.

"Flight 7, destination Traverse Town, will be leaving in ten minutes," a woman's voice came over the speaker system.

"We should get going," Riku said. "Come on guys."

"Right, see you Leon!"

As Sora, Kairi, Riku, Tory, and the pokémon hurried towards the Gummi Ship, Leon crossed his arms, shook his head and laughed. "Too much energy, those kids."

* * *

Yep, I added Bianca and Latias from the fifth movie; Pokemon Heroes. I remember when that was one of my favorite pokemon movies; still is, actually. Latios's death scene was so sad.

By the way, thank you, everyone who has reviewed or PM'ed me about this story. A few of you have given me ideas, one of which will be implemented next chapter. And just all around thanks for all the support. :D

So, yeah! Thanks! And please review.


	8. Chapter 7

Hey everyone. Sorry it took so long for this one to come out; I hit a wall after the first couple paragraphs, and everything began to slowly come through.

We have some characters that a certain someone requested coming in. And surprisingly, I found the perfect place to put them! (And the perfect use for one of them.) So, enjoy!

Oh, and I have a note at the bottom of the chapter... you'll see what it's about later.

"Speech."

_'Thoughts.'_

**"Translated pokémon speech."**

* * *

**Storm of Fire**

**Chapter 7**

* * *

"So, Tory, tell us more about yourself."

They were all seated on the seats of the large Gummi Ship created to resemble the inside of a commercial airplane. They had taken off half an hour ago, after a small scuffle when Sora nearly lost his ticket to a mischievous rattata. The ship was surprisingly full, with at least twenty other passengers sitting around the different chairs.

"Oh…" The silvery-blue haired boy fidgeted. "Well… I used to live in a city called LaRousse. It was a high-tech city, and my father was one of the professors that worked there. That's where I met Plusle and Minun here."

The two electric rabbit-mice grinned, sitting on one of the chairs with Cyndaquil.

"I was scared of them at first," Tory admitted. "… A few years before that, I had almost been trampled by a herd of spooked sealeo and walrein; it had been a traumatizing experience. I met a few nice kids, and they helped me get over it."

"That's a nice story," Kairi said with a smile, peering between the seats from behind.

"And that's how you know how to work with all these electronic devices, right?" Riku asked.

Tory nodded. "Plusle and Minun help a lot too. They generate electricity in their cheeks, like a pikachu."

"Plu, plu!"

"Mi, mi!"

"Oh, speaking of a pikachu…" Cyndaquil climbed up onto the head of the ship chair and looked over at Tory. "Have you seen my trainer? He's got black hair, a blue vest, and a cap, and he has a pikachu with him. His name is Ash."

Tory, Plusle, and Minun stared at the fire mouse, eyes growing wide. "Ash? From Pallet Town? He's your trainer?"

Cyndaquil nodded his head vigorously. "You heard of him? I haven't seen him since he left to go to Sinnoh…"

Tory's eyebrows creased with slight worry. "Not since he helped us out with a problem in LaRousse… That was a couple years ago… Sorry."

"Oh… no, it's alright…" Cyndaquil slid back down onto the seat. "I'm sure he's fine… they wouldn't let themselves get defeated so easily…"

Kairi patted the fire mouse on the head with a small smile. "It's alright, Cyndaquil."

"Thanks, Kairi…"

It took several hours for the Gummi Ship to reach Traverse Town. Everyone pressed up against the windows, staring down at the rooftops as the ship lowered onto what looked like an airstrip.

"That wasn't there before," Sora said slowly as the wheels hit the blacktop.

"You know, all of the worlds are going through some form of unification," Riku said. "It must be a shock to some people. They were separated for so long… I wonder if it's a good idea."

"Well, this way people can help others on different worlds easier," Kairi said. "That's a good thing, right?"

"Huh, yeah, I guess it is."

The group headed off of the ship and entered the port building.

"So, Tory, where are you supposed to set everything up?" Sora asked, hands behind his head as he looked around at the food restaurants and general stores. It looked a lot like an airport terminal.

"I have to go to the First District," Tory replied. "They have a radio station there that I need to do some adjustments to. You don't have to follow me if you want to look around, though."

"Okay."

* * *

They made their way through the terminal and passed through the giant oak doors of the First District. "This is just like I remember it!"

Traverse Town, despite the modernization, looked just like it had when Sora first arrived. There was a café, alleys, and the general atmosphere under the perpetual, starry night sky was perfect.

"Mur!" A flock of crows with crowns that resembled hats were perched atop a telephone wire, staring at the new arrivals with intense eyes.

"Murkrow," Tory said, looking up. "Be careful, they like to steal shiny things."

"Huh…" Sora clamped his hand over the crown necklace around his neck. "… We'll go get the hotel rooms, then."

"Okay."

* * *

"Typhlosion, use flame wheel!"

"Umbreon, dodge it and use shadow ball!"

The black and yellow moonlight pokémon jumped as the giant fire-type came charging at him in a spinning wheel of fire. "Umbre… umbreon!" He blasted a sphere of dark energy at Typhlosion.

The volcano pokémon gave a low growl as the shadow ball exploded on contact with his flame wheel. He landed on all fours, shaking off the attack.

"Alright! Way to go, Typhlosion!" The dark-haired trainer wearing a gold and black cap grinned. "Now that's how you take an attack!"

Typhlosion smirked.

"Now, rollout!"

Typhlosion jumped into the air and curled into a ball, hitting the ground and rolling towards Umbreon at high speed.

"Umbreon, look out!" The brown-haired trainer exclaimed.

The dark-type gave a yelp as he was hit by the rollout attack. He rolled across the ground and cringed as he got back to his paws.

"Moonlight!" The brunet shouted.

Umbreon jumped in the air, landing on the edge of the fountain in the square. "Umbre!" The rings around his ears, tail, and legs glowed bright, and suddenly his entire body was engulfed in a white light. The light faded, and the moonlight pokémon was as fit as ever.

"A healing move, huh? No worries, Typhlosion. Use flamethrower!"

"Not so fast! Umbreon, counter with Dark Pulse!"

Typhlosion let loose a blast of red-hot fire from his jaws as Umbreon sent a pulse of dark energy to counter. The two attacks collided in a giant explosion, knocking both the pokémon off of their feet.

Typhlosion grunted, sitting up and scratching his head. "Ty…"

"That was great!" His trainer exclaimed. "You took those attacks really well!"

Umbreon jumped out of the fountain he had slipped into, shaking off his fur. "Umb, umbreon."

"Great work Umbreon!" Turning to look at the other boy, the brunet added, "That was a great battle. Your typhlosion is really strong. I'm Gary."

The dark-haired boy grinned. "I'm Jimmy. I can say the same about your umbreon."

Umbreon walked over to the volcano pokémon and tilted his head. "Umbre, umb."

Typhlosion seemed to laugh and gave an amused growl in response. There was a pause, a stillness in the air before his ear twitched, and the fire-type was on his feet in a flash. "Ty, typhlo!"

"What's wrong?" Jimmy asked.

Umbreon growled, fur bristling as he gazed around the square.

Suddenly, numerous bell-shaped creatures with strangely shaped hats on their head appeared in the air, floating around and staring at them with eerie golden eyes. The emblem on their chest was familiar.

"Not these again!" Gary exclaimed. "We just took them out a couple hours ago!"

"It looks like we'll just have to take them down a second time!" Jimmy said. "Typhlosion, let's go!"

"You too, Umbreon!"

"Ty!"

"Umb!"

* * *

Tory walked down the street, looking up at the telephone poles that were propped up already. "Hmm… If we do some re-wiring, we could probably get the signal to the café…"

"Plu!"

The silvery-blue haired boy gave a small smile and looked down at his map of the world. "Yeah… Oh, there's an alley behind the hotels. Maybe we should connect the signal from there—it'll be out of the way."

"Min, min!"

Tory nodded. "Right. Okay… so if I go down this alley, it should be over here…" He turned to the left, down a narrow space between two of the buildings, and walked until he reached a stack of crates. "Oh… Guys, can you help me with this?"

Plusle and Minun jumped off of their trainer's shoulders, and the three of them worked together to move the pile out of the way. A narrow lane was revealed before then, behind the hotel and next to a waterway.

"Yeah, I can see this," Tory said, looking up. "There are balconies up there… the cables could probably go through the building, but we need permission from the manager before we can do anything…"

As Plusle imagined the layout his trainer was thinking of, Minun looked around. There were all these boxes lying around—he wouldn't be surprised if a pokémon made its home there.

The blue and yellow rabbit-mouse looked at a particular crate with bits of old leaves and ripped cloth pulled together to make a nest. So there was a pokémon living there. Hopefully it wouldn't mind them intruding.

A soft splash caught Minun's attention, and he turned around to look at the canal. There was a small ripple running across the surface of the water—had something just ducked below?

Plusle looked over at his friend. **"Is something wrong?"**

Minun shook his head. **"Nah, probably just some pokémon wondering what all the commotion is about."** _'At least I hope it's just that…'_

"Well…" Tory was oblivious to the conversation his pokémon were having. "… Let's head back to the First District. We've got enough information to hook up a television signal in the café, at least."

"Plu!"

"Mi!"

* * *

As Sora stepped through the doors to the Second District, the sounds of battle reached his ears. _'Heartless?'_

A jet of fire shot into the air, slamming into a Blue Rhapsody and destroying it in a burst of purple and black smoke as a ball of dark energy collided with a Red Nocturne.

Sora, Riku, and Kairi immediately ran to the stone wall and peered over the edge. Two boys and their pokémon were surrounded by groups of the floating elemental Heartless, along with a number of Soldiers.

"Let's go!" Sora exclaimed.

"Right!"

The three friends jumped down to the ground, Cyndaquil clinging to Sora's shoulder before leaping off, and they ran into the fray.

"Blizzard!" Sora exclaimed, shooting a burst of ice at a Red Nocturne. He jumped back to avoid a Thunder from a Yellow Opera and met up with the brown-haired trainer. "Need some help?"

"Thanks!" He replied. "We were beginning to worry that there were too many of them!"

Kairi aimed Oathkeeper at the Blue Rhapsodies floating high in the air. She squinted her eyes shut in concentration. "I hope this works…! Fire!" A ball of fire shot from the tip of the Keyblade and slammed into the blue Heartless, causing it to explode and release a single pink heart into the air.

"Nice one, Kairi," Riku said, glancing over at the auburn-haired girl before slamming Way to the Dawn into a Soldier's head.

Cyndaquil rolled out of the way as a Soldier tried a cyclone attack on him. "Flamethrower!" He aimed a blast of fire at the Heartless, but the only thing that came out was a wisp of fire. "What?! Not again!"

The Soldier leaped forward, swinging its sharp red claws at the fire mouse.

"**Look out!"** The larger fire-type shouted, spinning wildly in a ball of fire, slammed into the Soldier and destroyed it with the single hit. The flames dissipated and he landed on his feet. **"Are you alright, kid?"**

Cyndaquil, who looked amazed at the fire attack just used, nodded. "… Yeah…"

Sora looked over at the two pokémon and noticed the resemblance. The coat colors, the flame that flickered at the large wolverine-creature's neck… He guessed that the larger pokémon was what Cyndaquil could evolve into.

And it looked freaking awesome.

"Sora, look out!"

The spiky-haired Keyblade wielder spun around and blocked a cyclone attack just in time.

The Soldier jumped back and prepared for another attack, but before it could the black and yellow dog knocked it away and blasted it with another ball of dark energy.

"Thanks," Sora said.

"Umb!" Was all the dog-like creature replied.

The fighting went on for several more minutes. Slowly but steadily, the Heartless numbers were being brought down. When only a few Red Nocturnes and a couple Soldiers remained, the Heartless fled in portals of darkness.

"Thanks, guys," the dark haired trainer said, plopping down onto a bench to catch his breath. "You helped us out a lot…"

"No problem," Sora replied. "It's our job, helping people out when the Heartless attack. I'm Sora, and these are my friends; Kairi, Riku, and Cyndaquil."

"I'm Jimmy, and this is my partner Typhlosion."

"Ty."

The brown-haired trainer nodded. "And I'm Gary. This here is Umbreon."

"Umb."

Cyndaquil, who had been staring at Gary and Umbreon for the longest time, finally spoke up. "Gary? Umbreon? I never thought I'd be so happy to see you two!"

"Huh?" Gary looked confused as the fire mouse rushed over to meet them. "Hey… wait a minute… aren't you Ash's cyndaquil?"

"Yes!" Cyndaquil nodded his head vigorously.

Umbreon barked, sniffing at Cyndaquil. "Umb! Umbreon!"

"But…" Gary's eyes widened. "Weren't you at the laboratory in Pallet Town?! What happened to Gramps? And the pokémon?"

Cyndaquil suddenly became very meek. "I… I don't know… When the storm with the Heartless came… I went to the lab for help… but no one was there… I don't know what happened to the professor… and the pokémon probably got scattered everywhere like I did…"

Gary was quiet. "… I'm sure they're alright…" He muttered. But by the looks of it, he didn't believe what he was saying.

Jimmy kneeled down and picked Cyndaquil up. "Hey… is this collar how you're talking?"

Sora nodded. "It's a special translation collar that was made in Radiant Garden. It's still a demo, though. The final product is supposed to be less bulky."

"Reminds me of what Devon Corporation was planning," Jimmy said. "I kept seeing commercials on TV about how they were going to make some sort of translator that let us understand pokémon. Cool! We should get one for you later, Typhlosion."

"Typh."

"Anyway…" Looking over to his friends, Sora said, "We should get the rooms now."

"Right."

Sora looked back to Gary and Jimmy. "After we get our rooms, we're probably going to go to the café to grab a bite to eat. Do you want to come with us?"

"Sure," Jimmy said. "We're getting hungry anyway, right?"

"Ty!"

* * *

Cyndaquil sighed, nibbling on his piece of freshly baked bread. He was sitting down on the ground as the others were at the table, eating lunch. Tory had met up with them for a moment, stopping by to eat and talk with their new friends.

Typhlosion walked over, noticing the gloom surrounding the fire mouse. **"What's wrong, kid?"**

"Just…" Cyndaquil sighed again. "I don't know… I can't light my fire like I used to now… You saw back there how I tried to use flamethrower, but it didn't work, right?"

"**Ah…"** Typhlosion crossed his arms and thought. **"You're really worried, aren't you? Worried about your trainer and the other pokémon you know?"**

Cyndaquil nodded. "Yeah…"

"**You just gotta believe in yourself,"** Typhlosion said. **"It sounds really cheesy, I know, but the will of a fire pokémon is what controls their flame! If you have confidence in yourself, then you can light your fire in a snap!"**

"Is it really that simple?" Cyndaquil asked.

Typhlosion nodded. **"Definitely! You know, when I was a Cyndaquil I went through some tough times…"** He paused, probably remembering a hard battle or a difficult obstacle. **"But Jimmy over there kept cheering me on. I started to get stronger; I started to get more confidence in myself. And look where I am now; a kick-ass Typhlosion! I get **_**all**_** the ladies, you know."** The volcano pokémon looked smug as he joked.

Cyndaquil laughed. Typhlosion was pretty funny. "… Hey… you know that attack you used earlier? The one where you were spinning and on fire?"

"**Flame wheel, you mean?"** Typhlosion titled his head. **"What about it?"**

Cyndaquil fidgeted, biting down on the last of his bread. "… Can you teach me how to do that? It looked so awesome, but I've never used it before…"

"**You've never used flame wheel before?"** Typhlosion looked stunned. **"But you're a cyndaquil! It should be easy for you! That's it, I'm definitely going to show you how to use flame wheel!"** The volcano pokémon picked up Cyndaquil and ran off.

"What the—Cyndaquil?! Typhlosion?!" Everyone looked confused as the fire pokémon hurried out of the café.

"We're going to do some training! We'll be back soon!" Cyndaquil squeaked before they disappeared into the Third District door.

* * *

Totodile sighed. It had been days since he wound up in this strange, tiny town. Pokémon were everywhere… yet none that he knew. The big jaw pokémon was lucky enough to find a good number of waterways; the canal, the underground grotto, and then the abandoned house surrounded by a lake, hidden behind a strange locked door. At least there was a passage out of the lake inside the house and through the grotto.

Totodile sighed again, picking up the bag of food he had snagged from a market vendor and eating an apple. _'Where are all my friends?'_ He didn't see them in the town during his days of exploring, and neither did the murkrow. _'I hope they're okay…'_

_Plop!_

The big jaw pokémon jumped to his feet. **"What was that?"** It sounded like something was in the water. He hurried out of the abandoned shack, ducking under the shredded tarp that hung in the doorway, and looking around.

It was an eerie, empty place, with large walls that echoed with every little sound. It would be less creepy if there were other pokémon… but most of them stayed in the grotto below.

Totodile scanned the water, looking for any sign of a ripple. Then he looked to the walls, and then to the stalactites on the ceiling. **"… Am I just imagining things…?"**

But as he said it, a shadow flashed across the wall. He only just managed to get a glimpse of it, but it was enough to freak the crocodile-creature out. **"Who's there?!"**

It seemed like all around him, shadows were moving. It was frightening.

_SPLASH!_

Totodile jumped ten feet into the air, spinning around to look to where something had fallen into the lake. Something big. **"C-come out and fight like a real pokémon!" **He exclaimed despite his shaking.

With what happened next, he _really_ wished he hadn't said that.

The giant gold and gray creature rose from the depths of the water, raising its head into the air. Its red eyes gazed down upon the tiny big jaw pokémon, and its sharp mouth opened with a loud screech that echoed off the walls.

Totodile shrunk, but he forced himself to stand his ground. **"S-so you're kind of big… but if you want a fight, that's what you're going to get!"**

* * *

YES! Totodile is here! Any guessed what the big pokemon was? I have a feeling not many are going to be able to. All I can say is that this pokemon will be important in finding out what's going on since the pokemon world was destroyed.

Anyway, things are progressing. Cyndaquil will hopefully be able to light his flame in no time again! And on another note, HG/SS is going to come out so soon! I've reserved SoulSilver already. I'm planning to re-live my first pokemon adventure with totodile (yep, I'm a Generation II kid.)

Okay. And here's that **note** I promise all of y'all.

_With regards to the reviewers, thanks for your reviews... but can you guys not send multiple reviews in? Okay, so I can totally see like... You get an idea suddenly, and you just have to send it in... but can you not send in such pointless reviews without much content in them? It's sort of considered spam._

_I know that users without accounts (AKA anonymous reviewers) can send in multiple reviews because fanfiction doesn't recognize them as the same people... And I like having reviews open to everyone, because not everyone has an account at the moment and those people may have ideas. But if the number of reviews without much content from individual anons stays this high I might have to block anonymous reviews. I'm aspiring to be a real author. Quality is better than quantity._

Another thing; I'm not going to break the bridge between the Pokemon universe and the Kingdom Hearts universe. Well, I already kind of have, but I'm not going to break it in a way that will change the other universe completely. So we're keeping to the original Princess of Heart (Alice, Jasmine, Belle, Cinderella, Aurora, Snow White, Kairi.) Pixar worlds, however, I'm considering placing in. Probably Ratatouille, Monsters, Inc., or the Incredibles if I do find a proper place.

And lastly, in case anyone is wondering at what point Ash was at in his journey when the world was destroyed, I'm thinking sometime after the events of _Giratina and the Sky Warrior_. Possibly much later than that, but some things are important to note... this one in particular: the events of _Arceus and the Jewel of Life_ did NOT happen in this story, even if the events that occured after are in place here.

Anyway, thank you for taking your time for reading this story in the first place. You guys are awesome. :D

See you guys next time!


	9. AUTHOR'S NOTE

ATTENTION READERS

I apologize whole-heartedly for my almost year-long disappearance off the face of FanFiction. My writing had become very stressful for me—it wasn't a hobby anymore, it was a chore. But in my year-long absence, I practiced my writing. I took time to recuperate.

And I may, _just may_ begin writing again. Because in my absence, I learned something very important; writing isn't a hobby. It's a job. It may not always be a fun one, but the reason why a person writes in the first place is because they want to express themselves, get those ideas out of their head.

As for Storm of Fire, I'm sorry to say that I completely forgot where I was going with the series. Please keep an eye out, alert the story if you must. If I can put together a new line of thought or remember, I will continue the story. I'll take some ideas, though I'd prefer to keep this a PKMN/KH crossover only, heads up. I'm also trying to keep up with the current PKMN series, as another note; not watching, but I've been prowling Serebii and Bulbapedia.

Again, I'm sorry for my absence. I hope you all can forgive me.

Thank you,

Erika Strider


	10. Chapter 8

I'm ba-ack! Hello, readers! I hope you're still around! I'd had most of this chapter written before I mysteriously vanished, but I wasn't able to finish it before that disappearance. I looked back at it periodically wondering how I could edit it, and then bam, it hit me a while back. I figured out what parts to tweak and what parts to leave. I was letting it sit before I looked it over, partially because I was just lazy. xP

Oh, and also, about some ideas I've gotten. Pixar is a possibility. Marvel, on the other hand, I think I'll avoid. I'm not too familiar with American comics (though I have a decent knowledge on general Marvel heroes), and though Disney technically bought them out in some way, Marvel isn't REALLY Disney. Plus, some of the superheroes would be a little... odd to include (but imagining Sora in a Spiderman costume is amusing. xD) Any Disney stuff I include that isn't in KH already would probably be the older stuff. The only show I really enjoy currently is Wizards of Waverly Place, and I don't really like many of the recent movies. I'll see what I can do about some of the other ideas. ;)

And I'm up to date on Pokemon stuff, so no need to remind me about recent episodes or the like. I check Serebii just about everytime I get on the computer. Who else is keeping up with Black and White here? I'm definitely loving some of the new Pokemon, but a few others, not so much. I'm even debating on whether I should break my tradition of using the water-type starter for my first time playing Black; Oshawott is adorable, but Snivy's family is just bad-ass.

And I've been aware of Cyndaquil's evolution from Bulbapedia a while back, though I don't know if I'm going to let him evolve or not. We'll see.

ANYWAY! Enough rambling. Let's begin the chapter.

* * *

**Storm of Fire**

**Chapter 8**

* * *

"**Try it again!"**

"Ugh…! Alright… flame wheel!"

The flame on Cyndaquil's back flickered to life, and the fire mouse ran at Typhlosion and jumped. He spun forward, the flame engulfing his entire body. But seconds later when he got within a few meters of the volcano pokémon, the fire disappeared and the flame wheel turned into a spinning tackle… as it had the last ten times.

Typhlosion blocked the attack with his arms, and Cyndaquil landed on the ground. **"You're getting better at it, Cyndaquil. But you're still having trouble when it comes to keeping your fire lit."**

Cyndaquil sighed. "I know, I know… I'm trying to be confident, but it's hard…"

The volcano pokémon crossed his arms. **"… Well, maybe we should take a break. Give some time for you to help get your willpower back to top-notch."**

"Okay." Cyndaquil slumped onto the ground in the middle of the square and sighed. Training wasn't going as good as it could have been. _'What if I can't get my fire back? What help will I be? Yeah, I can use attacks like swift and smokescreen still, but I'm a fire pokémon. I should be able to use fire attacks.'_ Call it the pride of the fire pokémon, or any pokémon for that matter. Sometimes, it just didn't feel right if they couldn't use attacks of their own type.

Above, a flock of murkrow flew by, their wing beats frantic and their cries sounding a warning.

"What's going on?" Cyndaquil asked, looking up. "The murkrow are freaking out about something…"

The answer came in the form of a muffled screech. The fur on the fire mouse's body bristled uneasily. What in the world could have made that noise?

"**That came from this way," **Typhlosion said, eyes landing on an alley. **"We should investigate; a pokémon might be hurt by one of those Heartless things. Come on."**

Cyndaquil swallowed down the fear that started to rise in his throat and followed Typhlosion to the alley.

There, at the end of the passage, was a huge wooden door. It was thick, sealed tightly, and the red symbol etched on it was glowing.

"**Damn!"** Typhlosion exclaimed, slamming his paws against the door. **"It's not opening!"** He pressed his ear against the wood and strained to listen in on what was going on.

There were more screeches, followed with the sounds of water splashing and battle. Whatever was behind the door, it was _big_.

A strange feeling suddenly swept across Cyndaquil, and his flame ignited spontaneously before dying down. The fire mouse recognized it immediately. "Earthquake!"

Moments later, the ground shook violently. Neon lights hanging around the district were falling to the ground and cracking open, and the pokémon that had been hiding in the shadows nearby suddenly ran for cover.

Typhlosion braced himself, keeping his paws on the door until the shaking stopped. **"What was that about? Was it a pokémon?"**

"If it was, it might be the one in there!" Cyndaquil squeaked. He looked up at the door, mind racing to figure out the solution to opening it. His eyes kept wandering over to the red symbol. There was something about it… it looked sort of like a flame. "Oh! Typhlosion, try hitting the door with a fire attack!"

The volcano pokémon blinked, looking up at the flame symbol. He knocked a paw against his head. **"Of course!"** He jumped back, the crest of fire at the back of his neck bursting to life. **"Flamethrower!"** A line of fire ripped from Typhlosion's mouth, slamming into the symbol.

It glowed bright red, and the door began to rise. They solved the puzzle!

"**Good thinking, Cyndaquil,"** Typhlosion said. **"Now come on!"** They hurried under the gap and rushed into the dark, dank cavern.

* * *

Totodile groaned, struggling to get back to his feet. How powerful could this pokémon be? It handled all his attacks, even hydro pump, like they were nothing. Meanwhile, all it took was a single attack to nearly knock out the big jaw pokémon.

Then again… what kind of attack was it? This giant creature had disappeared one moment, and it attacked him from behind the next.

The gray and gold pokémon reared its massive head back as it hovered above the surface of the water. Mouth open, a ball of bright orange energy was forming.

Suddenly, bright light engulfed the dark cavern. The giant pokémon stopped charging its attack, and Totodile squinted his eyes and stared at the source of the light. _'The door… opened?'_

"**Whoa! What kind of pokémon is **_**that**_**?"**

"I-it's powerful!"

The first voice was unfamiliar, but the second voice, though masked with human speech, was immediately recognizable. Totodile felt like jumping with joy. **"Cyndaquil! Cyndaquil!"**

The fire mouse's jaw dropped. "Totodile? It's you! You're alive! I thought I'd never see you again!"

"**Might not be for long,"** the typhlosion with Cyndaquil muttered under his breath, voice echoing across the cave walls. **"That pokémon… it's already hit your friend pretty hard."**

The giant six-legged beast roared, rising higher into the air as its wings seemed to turn into claws. **"I am Giratina!"** Its voice was low, but distinctly feminine. The creature was female? **"My home world has been **_**ruined**_**, and the perpetrators must be **_**punished**_**! I will **_**destroy**_** the ones who destroyed my world!"**

Totodile's eyes widened. **"W-wait, y-you don't think that we're the ones who-?"**

"**SILENCE!"** Giratina flapped her wings, and the cave was suddenly filled with a violent, purple-tinted wind that kicked up the water and knocked Typhlosion off of his feet.

Totodile quickly dove into the water, avoiding the ominous wind. He swam towards Cyndaquil and Typhlosion as fast as he could. **"Guys, we gotta get out of here!"**

"Will that work?" Cyndaquil asked, voice high with fright. "Giratina seems like she wants to _kill_ us!"

The renegade pokémon roared, head crest glowing blue before it vanished in a distortion of shadows.

"**Where'd she go?"** Typhlosion asked, looking around frantically.

Totodile's eyes widened. He recognized the attack, and he knew how powerful it was. **"Get out of the way!"**

Giratina appeared behind the fire pokémon, blocking their way out of the cave and slamming her claws into them.

Typhlosion was knocked into the water with a splash, and Cyndaquil was sent flying from the force of the impact. He landed on the ground of the island in the center of the cave.

Totodile ducked below the surface of the water, scanning the dark depths for the volcano pokémon. Spotting Typhlosion, who was almost unconscious from the attack, Totodile dove forward and pulled the fire-type back up.

Typhlosion gasped for air, eyes half-lidded. **"Thanks… kid…"**

"**Don't mention it,"** Totodile replied.

"**World slayers must be punished!"** Giratina backed up, rearing her head backwards again and preparing a massive hyper beam.

Totodile and Typhlosion's eyes widened in horror. There was no way they would get out of the way in time. Out of the corner of the big jaw pokémon's eye, he could see Cyndaquil struggling to get up. The flame on his back flickered in an effort to prepare and attack. _'Cyndaquil, just get out of here…!'_

Giratina screeched, her voice echoing across the cavern and cracking apart the stalactites that hung on the ceiling above. Rubble fell, and the water under her was quivering with the energy in her attack. **"PERISH!"**

"FLAMETHROWER!"

As the blast of energy shot straight towards the two water-logged pokémon, Cyndaquil's flame burst, flickering wildly as the light from the fire illuminated the cave. A stream of flames ripped from the fire mouse's mouth, intercepting the hyper beam with a giant explosion.

Totodile was thrown into the water from the force of the blast, and he surfaced coughing. **"Cyndaquil! Typhlosion!"** he called, squinting through the smoke to catch as glimpse of the two pokémon. **"Are you two alright?"**

Typhlosion slowly pushed himself off of the ground. It appeared that he had ducked to avoid the brunt of the explosion. **"I'm okay!"** he exclaimed, panting.

"I am too," Cyndaquil squeaked, flames still bristling as he kept an eye on Giratina. The huge dragon creature was frozen, for some reason, not moving. Her fierce red eyes glared at the fire mouse. "Why isn't she attacking?"

"**She's stalled!"** Typhlosion shouted in realization. **"She used hyper beam too many times! Now's our chance! MOVE!"**

"**This way!"** Totodile cried, darting through the water towards the ruined house Cyndaquil was standing near. Behind him, Typhlosion made his way at a much slower pace, forcing his body to jump across the stepping stones.

Totodile pulled back the curtain to the entrance of the house, ushering Cyndaquil inside. As Typhlosion landed on the island, Giratina's wings shook, and with a deafening screech she opened her jaws again to form another giant hyper beam.

"**There's a passage under the table!"** Totodile shouted, rushing inside after Typhlosion and slamming into the cover over the secret passageway. A hidden staircase was revealed. **"Inside, inside, inside!" **He shoved Cyndaquil none too gently down the hole before jumping in himself.

Just as Typhlosion entered the passage, the entire house exploded. The force pushed through the stairway, knocking the three pokémon down the rest of the steps and onto a damp rocky shore.

Screeches were coming from the stairway, followed by a painful scraping noise of claws against stone. It seemed like Giratina was trying to follow the pokémon underground, but was too large to fit through.

"Ow…" Cyndaquil pushed himself off of the ground slowly. His flame was flickering out now, and he looked around. "Where are we…?"

"**Underground grotto,"** Totodile replied, sitting up and rubbing his head. **"Ah, I think I bumped my head…"**

Typhlosion's ears twitched, and his head turned to the stairway. All was silent now, aside from the occasional _drip-drop_ of water from the ceiling. **"It stopped."**

Totodile and Cyndaquil gave sighs of relief. **"Oh man, I thought we were goners,"** the big jaw pokémon muttered.  
**"Are you three alright?"**

"**WAH!"** Snapping their heads to the water, they saw a pink creature with a pale beige mouth staring at them, a dopey look in its eyes. **"Oh… good grief, we thought you were that Giratina,"** Typhlosion said, holding a paw over his heart.

"**Sorry,"** the slowpoke replied, scratching his head. **"I heard all that noise and…"** he stared at the group for a long moment before blinking. **"Did you say Giratina?"**

"Yeah, that's the pokémon that attacked us just now," Cyndaquil said.

"**Oh…"** Slowpoke paused and stared at the trio once more. **"Well… you're lucky to have escaped…"**

"**Man, this guy's really slow,"** Totodile whispered to Typhlosion, nudging him in the side with an elbow.

Typhlosion snickered. **"Well, he **_**is**_** a **_**slow**_**poke."**

Slowpoke tilted his head and looked up at the ceiling. **"Giratina's a mighty powerful pokémon. A legendary one. She could have killed you."**

"**She almost did!"** Totodile exclaimed.

"**Wait, how do you know about Giratina?"** Typhlosion asked, crossing his arms. A suspicious look crossed his face as he eyed the slowpoke and stepped forward. **"You're not in cahoots with her, are you? You're not going to lead us into a trap so we become a Christmas dinner…"**

Slowpoke chuckled a very slow chuckle. "I'm not, don't worry… I just hear things. I've heard of Giratina before… It seems like her home was destroyed. That's why she tried to kill you."

"Well, yeah, she did say her world was destroyed, or something," Cyndaquil said, frowning slightly and putting paw to his mouth in thought. "The world of pokémon was destroyed… We're all victims of that…"

"**Oh, but Giratina lived in her **_**own**_** world,"** Slowpoke replied. **"It was known as the Reverse World, or the Distortion World, and it was a world deeply connected with ours. It started to fall apart when our world fell apart. The fact that Giratina is homeless now means that our world was completely destroyed."**

"**What?"** Totodile's jaw dropped. **"O-our world? Destroyed? Completely?"** He turned to Cyndaquil and Typhlosion. **"This guy can't be serious! I mean, yeah, those things came out of no where and attacked, but they… they couldn't have destroyed our home!"**

"I'm sorry, Totodile," Cyndaquil muttered, lowering his head to the ground. "It's true… Sora and the others explained to me… Those creatures, the Heartless… they destroyed our world, and a bunch of other worlds too…"

"**No!"** Totodile clapped his hands over his head. **"No, no, no! How? It's not possible!" **His eyes were starting to glisten with tears. **"What happened to Bayleef, and Noctowl, and Heracross? They can't be…!"**

"**Hey, kid, we're here, aren't we?"** Typhlosion tried to smile. **"That means your friends are probably okay too. So don't worry. We'll find them… eventually."**

Totodile's lips were still curved down into a frown, and he wiped his eyes. **"Yeah. Sure. Whatever."** He didn't sound like he believed it.

"Hey, Slowpoke, how do you know all—?" Cyndaquil turned to look at Slowpoke, but he stopped mid-sentence. The dopey pokémon was asleep next to the water, oblivious to everything going on.

"**Hey, you! We're talking to you here!"** Typhlosion pushed Slowpoke in the head a few times with his foot, but the pink water/psychic-type continued to sleep.

"**Just leave him alone,"** Totodile said, taking a deep breath and forcing a smile. **"Once a slowpoke falls asleep, it's way to hard to wake them up! We're better off just getting as far away from here as possible… Giratina might come back."**

"Totodile's right," Cyndaquil said with a nod. "Come on, let's go back to the café. We need to introduce you to the others!"

"**Feh, fine,"** Typhlosion crossed his arms and gingerly followed the other two pokémon into the water. With Totodile leading the group, the exited the grotto through an opening that led to a canal.

Slowpoke cracked open one of his bright blue eyes. "**I wish you luck on finding your friends, Cyndaquil and Totodile."** he said quietly to himself before getting to his feet. Swinging his white-tipped tail, the dopey pokémon slowly made his way over to the stairs, disappearing up the passage.

* * *

"Guys! What happened to you?" Sora exclaimed when the pokémon returned to the café.

"Had a… little accident," Cyndaquil replied, collapsing on the ground. "I'm tired…"

Kairi kneeled down and picked the fire mouse up in her arms. "We should take you back to the hotel room… Oh. Who's this?" She looked over at the blue, bipedal crocodile.

"Toto-toto-toto-toto-totodile…!" The pokémon jumped up and down a few times before landing on his butt, exhausted.

"That's Totodile," Cyndaquil muttered. "One of… my friends…"

"You found another one of your friends?" Riku asked. "That's great news."

Jimmy patted Typhlosion on the back. "You need a good rest, don't you?"

"Ty…"

Umbreon padded over and sniffed. "… Umbre?" He looked suspicious.

Typhlosion waved a hand. "Typhlo."

"Come on. Let's all head back."

* * *

Cyndaquil groaned, rolling over on his pillow. His body was still aching from that attack Giratina had hit him with…

Everyone was asking him what had happened, and why they were in such bad shape. But the fire mouse wouldn't tell them. They didn't need to know the chaos that had occurred in the cavern. If they did, they might run down there to check things out, maybe to even stop Giratina. If they did, then the only thing they'd get from that battle would be injuries. Cyndaquil just told them that while he and Typhlosion were training, Totodile came around and they were attacked by Heartless.

Speaking of Totodile… it was a relief that he was alright and still as energetic as ever. Even if the big jaw pokémon was depressed, he was trying to stop it from getting to him. Good ol' Totodile.

'_I wish I was that optimistic…'_ Cyndaquil thought. Even with his best friend found, there were still other pokémon to worry about. Bayleef, Bulbasaur, Heracross, Sceptile… and all the others.

But the fire mouse's mind wandered to the encounter with Giratina. The monstrous legendary creature almost killed them. Almost killed Totodile and Typhlosion with that hyper beam… Cyndaquil had been so scared, but he managed to summon his flames at the last minute. He still remembered that feeling that made his fur stand on end, that rush of adrenaline, the warmth that swept over his body.

It was a good thing he was hit by that attack of Giratina's. If he hadn't, Blaze wouldn't have activated, and without it his flamethrower wouldn't have had enough power to intercept the hyper beam. And that could have been disastrous.

Cyndaquil rolled over on his pillow again, looking around the room. It was a small room, with a vanity, a bed, and a table. The window was closed and clipped shut. Kairi was asleep on the bed, curled up under the covers. Totodile was on the other side of the room, on the floor like Cyndaquil was. The big jaw pokémon was sound asleep, evident by his snores.

'_How can he fall asleep so easily, after everything that's happened?'_ Cyndaquil wondered. One minute Totodile would be jumping with his abundant amount of energy, the next he would be out like a light. No matter what went wrong, it seemed like nothing could stop him from sleeping. Cyndaquil wasn't like that at all. Sometimes he'd stay up the whole night thinking of things—usually his worries.

Cyndaquil sat up and rubbed his face. It didn't seem like he was going to get any sleep tonight. At least he drank some Moomoo Milk from the café before sleep. A waitress pokémon trainer and her miltank had arrived in Traverse Town for a job opportunity at the café.

It was amazing how people and pokémon could bounce back after tragedies as severe as the loss of a world… but trainers and pokémon had the will to push forward, strive to live life to the fullest, and to make their place in the world, no matter which they happened to be on.

Strive to live life to the fullest… That was it. That's what he would do. If Ash and Pikachu were here, they'd be telling him to keep at it, to never give up. They wouldn't be letting anything stop them from whatever needed to be done.

Cyndaquil wouldn't either.

* * *

Cyndaquil's got his determination back. Only time will tell if this will help him ignite his inner fire.

I can't say when the next chapter is coming out; probably not for a while. I haven't started yet.

And, may I add, **patience people**! This story is something written for fun and for practice; don't go hounding me about updating, okay? I have school. Plus I write other things (not just fan fiction) and am reading some very addicting book series. (_City of Bones _by Cassandra Clare, _The Hunger Games _by Suzanne Collins, and _Gone _by Michael Grant are the main ones, if you're curious. Go check them out. I'm even re-reading City of Bones at this very moment.)

So, yeah, story alerts are the way to go. Thanks for reading. :3

See you guys next time!


	11. Chapter 9

Hey guys! Finally finished this chapter! For a long time it was floating in some sort of writing purgatory, where I wasn't too sure what I'd do. But I have to thank a few creepypastas, actually, for giving me an idea on what to do next. :3

Let's just move on!

"Speech."

_'Thoughts.'_

**"Translated pokémon speech."**

* * *

**Storm of Fire**

**Chapter 9**

* * *

"Flame wheel!"

Cyndaquil spun forward, the flame on his back bursting to life. The flame engulfed his body, and he crashed into the ground. The fire seemed to explode upon impact, and Cyndaquil leaped back, landing on all fours on the cobblestone.

"**You did it!"** Typhlosion exclaimed, clapping his paws together. **"Alright! Way to go kid!"**

"I did it?" Cyndaquil looked surprised for a moment. "Hey, I did! Awesome! I used flame wheel!"

"**This calls for a celebration!"** Totodile said, jumping onto the Second District fountain and holding a claw in the air. **"Let's go get something to eat!"**

Typhlosion grinned. **"To the café!"**

As the three pokémon ran off towards the First District, Tory, Plusle and Minun approached the giant clock tower.

"This seems like a good place to set up the radio signal," Tory said, looking up at the clock face. The hands looked a little strange, but then again, a lot of things he'd seen so far were pretty strange. It didn't seem like the hands were turning, though.

"Plu-plu!" Plusle exclaimed.

"Right, let's check everything out inside."

The trio passed through the door and entered a room filled with gears of all shapes and sizes. Tory watched as the giant gears turned, setting off a chain reaction that moved the entire room. As he stepped forward, however, a slight energy surge rippled in the air. A group of Soldier Heartless jumped out from whirls of darkness.

Tory wasn't caught off guard. "Plusle, Minun!" he shouted, pointing at the Heartless. "Thunder!"

"Plu-plus!"

"Mi-min!"

The two pokémon jumped from Tory's shoulder and into the air. Blue electricity sparked at their cheeks, and they unleashed a giant jolt at the Soldiers. The Heartless didn't stand a chance, destroyed by the two attacks. Plusle and Minun landed on the flood, cheering and touching tails to generate a few sparks.

"Good work, guys," Tory said with a small grin. The two electric-types hurried back onto his shoulder, and he continued forward. "Alright, so it looks like the clock tower isn't working. Maybe one of the gears is out of place…"

His suspicions were right. Towards the other end of the room, Tory came across a section of gears that were idle. He scanned the wall and spotted the culprit—a large gear near the ceiling was dropped too low to connect the machine. "Plusle, Minun, use magnet rise and move that gear up."

"Mi-mi!" The two pokémon jumped, cheeks sparking again. Suddenly they were floating through the air towards the machine part. It took a bit of effort, but the two electric pokémon managed to push it back into place with a click.

The entire building shook a little. Tory stepped back and looked around. A quiet "tick-tock!" echoed down from somewhere above. "Okay, I think we did it! Let's try heading up to see—" He was abruptly cut off when a muffled roar ripped through the air.

Plusle and Minun squeaked in alarm, darted back to Tory's shoulder. The silver-haired boy looked around with wide eyes. What in the world made that noise? Slowly his gaze rose to the ceiling, where the building continued to shake and bits of plaster fell to the floor. Was… was something moving around up there?

"Let's get out of here…!" Tory exclaimed. He sprinted back towards the way they came and shoved the door open.

* * *

The roar echoed throughout the town. Cyndaquil looked up from the plate of special Unova-style pizza. "What was that?"

"**Oh, don't tell me it's Giratina again!"** Totodile moaned. **"I don't need a homicidal pokémon coming after us again!"**

"**I don't think it was Giratina,"** Typhlosion replied. **"It didn't sound like her, anyway."**

"Hmm… Must be a pokémon battle or something." Cyndaquil bit down into his pizza slice, pulling a piece off with his teeth and letting the gooey cheese stretch.

"**Speaking of pokémon battles, have you had any good ones, Typhlosion?"** Totodile asked. **"Me and Cyndaquil here battled in that tournament thing in Johto. We were pretty good, just saying."**

Typhlosion chuckled. **"I've had a fair share of battles… Battled some hitmonlee a while ago—got kicked in the face. Beat it with a flamethrower."** He looked smug. **"… When I was a cyndaquil, I battled this kid who'd become Jimmy's rival. I was beaten pretty badly by his nidoking. But Jimmy kept cheering me on, and eventually I became strong enough to defeat the purple thug."**

"**Rival, eh?"** Totodile asked.** "That Gary was our trainer's rival for a while. But then he decided to become some pokémon researcher or something. It wasn't rivals we had problems with though—that Team Rocket was always after us!"**

"**Team Rocket, eh?"** Typhlosion scratched his chin. **"Yeah, ran into a couple of them too, I think. They tried to hunt a legendary pokémon we met—Raikou. It took a lot of work, but eventually we helped it get away from them."**

"We've had some encounters with legendaries too," Cyndaquil commented. "Crazy things, like Suicune, Celebi, Lugia…"

"… **Huh. You know something?" **Totodile asked, scratching his chin thoughtfully. **"Where do you think all the legendary pokémon went? We've run into Giratina, and she's a pretty big pokémon, but Pikachu told me about the time they ran into these giant pokémon that caused volcanoes to erupt and created tidal waves in the Hoenn region. Those things can't hide that well, can they?"**

'_Or maybe… they aren't hiding.'_ Cyndaquil thought back to the incident at Destiny Islands. A pokémon-turned-Heartless. A deadly, hungry creature. What if a legendary was turned into one of those? He shuddered at the thought.

Another roar ripped through the air, sounding a bit closer than it had earlier. And this time, Cyndaquil was hit by a familiar warning that raised the fur on his body. "Another earthquake?"

On cue, the ground started to shake, and the buildings swayed. A woman walking down the stairs with her oshawott screamed and crouched low on the concrete. Empty glasses fell over and shattered. The lights around the town started to flicker. Nearby, windows in an apartment building cracked.

"**This earthquake is worse than the last one!" **Typhlosion exclaimed, clutching the edge of the table for support as he swung his head around.

'_What's going on?' _This couldn't have been coincidence—pokémon using earthquake in battles in both Radiant Garden _and_ Traverse Town. It was too… unnatural. And this one _was_ stronger than the last—stronger than any earthquake Cyndaquil encountered that came before it. _'Are Kairi and Sora and Riku okay?'_

The quake settled after half a minute, and Totodile gave a sigh of relief. **"I thought that was never going to end!"**

Cyndaquil looked around. "Guys, we should go and make sure everyone is alri—"

"SOL!" A giant explosion was set off in the middle of the town square, sending dust and debris flying everywhere.

"**Was that a pokémon?"** Totodile exclaimed, jumping onto the table and staring at the mess.

Something was glowing red in the dust cloud, shaped like an upside down heart. A pair of glowing yellow orb-like eyes focused onto the café where the three pokémon were sitting. One purple paw with long black nails stepped into view.

As the rest of the creature came into view, Cyndaquil felt the feeling rush out of his body. "Oh no…" It had a dark body covered in thick dark purple fur. The glowing upside down heart was etched in the fur over its forehead. But the thing that drew the most attention was the giant sickle-shaped horn protruding from the side of its head.

"Ab…" The pokémon reared its head back, jaw open as deep orange energy started to form at its mouth.

Typhlosion's eyes widened. **"GET DOWN!"** he roared, shoving Totodile and Cyndaquil to the floor and stepping forward.

"SOL!" The hyper beam pierced the air, aimed straight at the café. Typhlosion's fire burst to life.

"**FLAMETHROWER!"** The stream of fire collided with the energy blast, and the attacks exploded on contact. More dust and debris was thrown into the air.

"Did you get it?" Cyndaquil asked hesitantly, unable to see much through the thick dust.

"**No, I—!"** Typhlosion's eyes widened. **"LOOK OUT!"** He grabbed Cyndaquil and Totodile under his arms and leaped out of the way, just as a blue sickle-shaped blast of energy was shot their way and destroyed with the table they had just been sitting at.

He landed on the ground not too far away. **"What kind of pokémon is that? I've never… I mean, I know what pokémon has that type of horn, but I've never seen an absol that looks like that!"**

"It's been turned into a Heartless!" Cyndaquil exclaimed. "It wants to attack us and steal our hearts!"

"**Steal… steal our hearts?"** Totodile stared at Cyndaquil with a look of disbelief. **"What kind of horror movies have you been watching with Donphan?"**

"I'm serious!" Cyndaquil squeaked. "We ran into one of those things back at Sora's home, but it wasn't that kind of pokémon! It was a tropius! Watch out, Typhlosion!"

The volcano pokémon jumped out of the way as the absol-Heartless sent another psycho cut in their direction. **"So what do we do? It's a Heartless, but it's still a pokémon…!"**

"I don't know…!" Cyndaquil cried. "When we battled the tropius, it just faded away after we defeated it, like a regular Heartless!"

"**Maybe we should go get Sora!"** Totodile suggested. **"I'll get him!"**

"**No, Totodile, wait—!"** But the big jaw pokémon jumped out of Typhlosion's grasp and bounded down the cobblestone street, shouting Sora's name. Typhlosion blinked, throwing Cyndaquil into the air and moving forward, blocking another psycho cut with his arms.

Cyndaquil squeaked, flailing his arms and legs as he fell back to earth. He landed on Typhlosion's head with his head spinning. "Please don't do that again…!"

"**Sorry, kid, but this thing is no pushover,"** Typhlosion replied with a throaty growl, panting. The absol-Heartless hissed, giving the two fire-pokémon a cautious space as it circled them, eyeing them like a potentially dangerous, but delicious meal. **"So, you just learned flame wheel. Are you gonna help me or what?"**

Cyndaquil was a little surprised. "Oh, right!" He nodded his head and jumped down to the ground next to his new friend. _'Ignite, ignite, ignite…!'_ With a little tension in his shoulders and a deep breath, the flame on his back shot out and bristled.

Typhlosion smirked. **"Alright! Now let's take this thing down!"**

* * *

Totodile didn't stop running until he reached the Second District. He took a moment, placing his claws on his knees and leaning over to catch his breath. _'That… that was pretty scary…!'_ he thought, looking around. It didn't seem like there were any Heartless roaming the streets now—it was pretty deserted.

That struck the big jaw pokémon as a little strange. Usually there were only a few people wandering around outside at a time in Traverse Town… but it was time to get moving, to get on with the day under the eternal night sky of this world. Where was everyone?

His eyes traveled along the roads and the stairs, up the buildings, and scanned the roofs. His jaw dropped. **"What?"**

Lying motionless on the ground, crowded by the two electric rabbit-mice, was Tory.

"**Oh no, oh no, oh no, oh no!"** Totodile shot forward, bounding past the hotel doors.

Plusle and Minun looked, cheeks crackling with electricity as they glared at the approaching figure. When they realized it was Totodile, however, they calmed down.

"**Totodile, Totodile, help!"** Plusle exclaimed. **"Tory, Tory's unconscious!"**

"**What happened?"** Totodile asked, crouching over and pushing the silver-haired boy's head and finding a bump and some pooled blood. A groan escaped Tory's lips, but he didn't wake up. Totodile gave a sigh of relief.

"**Something jumped us when we left the building,"** Minun said. He looked towards the door behind them that was barely hanging on its hinges. **"It was an absol—we've seen them by our home before. We blasted it with thunder and it ran away, but it rammed Tory into the wall! The absol looked… weird, though."**

Plusle nodded vigorously. **"It was purple and black and had these great big glowing yellow eyes—!"**

Totodile cut the red and yellow rabbit-mouse off there. **"I know what you're talking about, it's a Heartless!" **He paused, looking down to Tory again as Plusle and Minun started to squeak incoherently. The kid looked alright, not like some dark denizen like Heartless. **"Where'd the thing come from?"**

"**Up there!"** Plusle and Minun pointed their paws up. Totodile had to take a few jumped back to be able to see what, exactly, they were pointing at.

The town's clock tower. And from where he stood, he could see that the gap that was once boarded up with wooden blanks had been blasted open, as if something had destroyed the barricade to escape.

"**There was a gear in there that was out of place,"** Minun said, looking to the building. **"There was a big crash after we fixed it. It… it might be our fault Tory's hurt…!"**

Totodile took a moment to register the tears that were forming in the two pokémon's eyes. **"Hold on, hold on! Don't cry! We need to get help! Cyndaquil and Typhlosion are holding off that absol and—!"** There was a loud explosion like a bang that went off in the distance. Totodile felt his heart jump. **"Don't just stand there! HURRY!"**

* * *

Cyndaquil gritted his teeth, pushing himself off of the ground and shaking off his fur. "That hurt…!"

"**You doing okay, kid?"** Typhlosion asked, jumping back and landing on all fours as he looked toward the young fire-type.

Cyndaquil nodded. "That hyper beam missed and just knocked me off my feet."

"**Let's not waste time,"** Typhlosion said, glancing back at the absol. **"It's stalled! We can take it down now!"** He dashed forward and curled into a ball, rolling at high speed towards the absol-Heartless. Cyndaquil watched for a moment before he relit his flame and unleashed a stream of fire from his mouth.

The absol-Heartless, unable to move, was knocked back by the rollout and engulfed in the raging fire. It gave a howl of pain as it hit the ground, the flames flickering out on its fur. But even if it was hit by two of those powerful attacks, it pushed itself up and bared its razor-sharp fangs.

Typhlosion rolled back to Cyndaquil's side and landed back on his paws. **"This thing just doesn't give up!"**

'_I don't know how long we can hold it off for,'_ Cyndaquil thought, looking around at the empty square. There were places where the concrete had been broken; shattered upon the impact of one of the absol-Heartless's powerful moves. Bricks were falling out of damaged buildings, and a streetlight had been knocked over, the exposed wires sparking periodically. Even if they could stop the Heartless from killing them, what about the rest of the town?

"**Look out!"** Typhlosion shouted, lunging forward and picking Cyndaquil up in his jaws by the scruff of his neck. The volcano pokémon jumped as a series of blue energy blades crashed into the ground where they had been standing moments before. **"Snap out of it, kid, concentrate!" **he growled through his teeth. **"This isn't the time to be spacing out!"**

* * *

"What sort of pokémon is that?" The question hung in the air as the boy's dark red eyes lingered on the warped beast fighting with the two fire pokémon below. Something about the typhlosion was vaguely familiar, but he gave it no thought. He was too busy concentrating on the absol that looked… almost like those creatures that stalked the shadows and hid in the darkness…

The absol launched a hyper beam at the cyndaquil. The little fire pokémon leaped into the air to dodge, and with a spark it was engulfed in flames and smashed into the disfigured pokémon. The absol was sent flying into the air from the impact, but it righted itself immediately and landed on the ground, claws skidding across the cobblestone. It gave an unsettling hiss.

As the absol swung its head in circles, a silver wind whipped around its jagged horn. The typhlosion barked something to the cyndaquil, who nodded and steadied its ground.

The boy whipped out a poké ball, smooth and glossy despite the years of wear and tear the device had to endure. It was his turn to take action.

* * *

Cyndaquil rolled out of the way as the sickle-shaped energy blades exploded where he had been just a split-second before. He immediately rolled to his paws and blasted a flamethrower at the absol-Heartless.

It rushed forward, dodging the flamethrower and leaping into the air. Its entire claw was enveloped in a dark aura. It seemed to hover, suspended high above the square for what seemed like seconds.

"**Look out!"** Typhlosion shouted, rearing his head back and sending another blast of fire at the Heartless.

The absol fell back to earth. It spun out of the way, aiming downwards as it plunged towards Cyndaquil, its giant claw pulled back and its ivory-white teeth bared.

Cyndaquil had a second to gasp before the Heartless swung its claw down.

There was a blinding flash of white light, and Cyndaquil, expecting to be raked to pieces by the night slash, was left gaping.

The huge blue alligator stood over him, its claws wrapped around the absol's wrists and holding it back. The absol was hissing and snapping its jaws, but the water-type wasn't intimidated. It jerked the absol forward before swinging it and throwing into a nearby brick building.

"**It's time to let the adults handle this battle,"** the feraligatr said in a rumbling male voice.

Cyndaquil was speechless. How—who—what—

"**You?"** Typhlosion exclaimed suddenly. Cyndaquil turned to look at the volcano pokémon, who seemed to be in some sort of shock. Feraligatr only responded by looking smug, which made Typhlosion sputter and shake his head. **"If you're here… then that means…!"**

The thin, pale-skinned red-haired boy landed on the ground beside the feraligatr. "Now's not the time to play games, Feraligatr," he said in a cool voice.

The giant alligator nodded. "Fer." **"Right."**

The fire at Typhlosion's neck bristled fiercely as he stared at the red-haired boy. **"Kamon!"**

"By the way you're staring at me, I'm going to assume you're Jimmy's Typhlosion," the boy—Kamon?—said, giving the volcano pokémon only a passing glance. "I'd ask where he is, but…" his eyes traveled over to the absol, which was getting back to its feet and moving forward again. "Feraligatr, waterfall."

Feraligatr shot forward, water bursting at his heels and propelling him towards the Heartless. The absol jumped, dodging the move, and Feraligatr spun around to face the dark-type as it hung in the air.

"Superpower," Kamon said.

Feraligatr's arm shot out and he grabbing the absol by the leg. The Heartless gave an alarmed hiss and tried to kick out, but Feraligatr didn't release his grip on the creature. His body glowed a deep orange-red, and it seemed like the air around him was crackling with energy. With a deafening roar, he swung his arm down and slammed absol into the ground, shattering the earth.

'_T-that was…!'_ Out of the corner of his eyes, Cyndaquil could see Typhlosion watching, wide-eyed. The fire around his neck had flickered out, and the larger fire-type was left shocked.

Feraligatr took a step back from the destruction his had caused, heavy tail dragging on the ground. There was a satisfied smirk on his face. **"Not such a hotshot now, Typhlosion."**

Typhlosion glared, ear twitching in irritation. He opened his mouth to snarl something in response, but a hair-raising hiss cut him off.

The absol slowly pushed itself out of the crater in the ground, stumbling forward. Even if its face didn't reveal any sort of emotion, its pain was obvious in the way it moved and the noises it made.

"It's not out yet?" Cyndaquil exclaimed. How in the world could something survive a move like the one that Feraligatr had pulled? Especially after all of the other attacks this thing had endured before the big alligator and his trainer stepped in!

Typhlosion took a step closer to the Heartless. **"Quick, while it's weakened! Take it dow—!"**

The poké ball smacked into the absol's head, pulling it inside in a burst of light. It hit the floor and shook violently. It wasn't the usual shaking of a poké ball that Cyndaquil had seen when it came to people catching pokémon—no, this was like a caged animal using every ounce of its strength trying to get loose.

The poké ball shook for what seemed like an endless number of seconds. Cyndaquil was waiting to see it break open, the absol returning to the world with a thirst for revenge. But to his surprise, the ball finally stopped its shaking, giving off a familiar noise of the device locking.

Kamon walked over to the ball, keeping his back straight and his chin high, though without taking his eyes off of the poké ball. His feraligatr approached as he kneeled down, grabbing the red and white ball. "Good work," he said in a stiff voice as he straightened up.

"Cyndaquil! Typhlosion!"

Cyndaquil snapped his head in the direction of the voices and approaching footsteps. Sora, Riku, Gary, Jimmy, Umbreon and Totodile were rushing down the steps, looking worried. Sora had his Keyblade out, balancing over his shoulder, but that look of concern slipped from his face when he saw the mess made of the town square, and Kamon and Feraligatr standing in the middle of it. Cyndaquil heard Jimmy swear under his breath.

"What the hell happened here?"

* * *

KAMON. AKA, Silver! 'Cuz I didn't use Gold's game-name, I decided not to use Silver's one either, for some sort of consistancy.

So Kamon caught the absol. What's going to happen next? Is Tory alright? Is it finally time to kick off out of Traverse Town and hit another big world for the next leg of the adventure? Only time will tell.

Thanks for reading! :3 See you next time.


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